THEOLOGICAL  SEMIT'ARY 


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THE  LAND  OF  ISRAEL, 

ACCORDING  TO 

THE  COVENANT 

WITH 

ABRAHAM,  WITH  ISAAC,  AND  WITH  JACOB. 


/ 

/ 

BY  ALEXANDEB  KEITH,  D.D., 


AUTHOR  OF  “THE  EVIDENCE  OF  PROPHECY,”  “SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES,” 
“DEMONSTRATION  OF  THE  TRUTH  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION.” 


Kumei'ous 


NEW  YORK: 

harper  &  BROTHERS,  PUBLISHERS, 

FRANKLIN  SQUARE. 

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TG 


JOHN  ABERCROMBIE,  M.D., 

2rt)e  follohDittfl  STrcatlse  (s  Knscti'bcG, 


IN  TOKEN  OF  CHRISTIAN  ESTEEM, 


BY 


THE  AUTHOR. 


LIBRARY  OF  PRINCETON 


TKEOLCGiCAL  SEMINARY 


j 


PREFACE. 


The  following  treatise  was  commenced  with  the  in¬ 
tention,  on  the  part  of  the  author,  of  drawing  out  a  few 
retrospective  and  prospective  sketches  of  Judea  and 
Judaism.  On  his  return  from  Palestine,  he  was  urged 
by  the  esteemed  friend  to  whom  it  is  inscribed  to  pub 
lish  the  substance  of  an  evening’s  conversation  in  his 
hospitable  house.  He  naturally  reverted  to  the  cove¬ 
nant  with  Abraham,  as  the  groundwork  of  such  an 
essay.  That  subject  alone,  in  connexion  with  kindred 
themes,  called  for  a  more  full  illustration  than  he  at 
first  anticipated.  And  as  the  subsequent  essay,  which 
thus  originated,  may  be  considered  as,  in  part,  a  se¬ 
quel  to  his  Treatise  on  the  Evidence  of  Prophecy,  it 
may  also  form  the  introduction  to  other  Scriptural 
topics,  of  momentous  import  to  Gentiles  as  well  as 
Jews. 

The  writer  has  thankfully  to  express  his  obligations 
to  Colonel  Chesney  for  the  use  of  his  map  constructed 
for  his  forthcoming  work  on  the  Euphrates  Expedition, 
with  many  of  the  proof-sheets  of  which  he  kindly  fur¬ 
nished  him ;  to  Colonel  M‘Niven,  for  the  Views  of 
CaBsarea,  and  the  Convent  at  Zahli ;  to  Mr.  Bucking¬ 
ham,  for  liberty  to  use  several  plates  from  his  Travels 
among  the  Arab  Tribes  ;  to  Mr.  Ainsworth,  and  to 
the  publisher  of  his  Researches  in  Assyria,  for  the  View 
of  Mount  Casius ;  and  to  Messrs.  Fisher,  for  permis¬ 
sion  to  insert  the  first  and  largest  plates,  taken  from 
their  splendid  work,  “  Views  of  Syria.” 

November,  1843. 

A  2 


LIST  OF  ENGRAVINGS 


DIRECTIONS  TO  THE  BINDER. 


Map  of  the  Land  of  Israel  according  to  the  Covenant,  to  face  Title  Page. 

Map  showing  the  entrance  into  Hamath . 94 

Remains  of  the  Port  of  Seleucia . 109 

Junction  of  a  Tributary  Stream  with  the  Orontes  .  .  .  .Ill 

Roman  Ruin  at  Gunnawat  ^  255 

Castle  and  Ruins  of  Salghud  J 

Castle  and  Plain  of  Emeza  %  253 

Caravan  on  the  Plains  of  the  Haouran  ) 

Scene  in  the  Mountains  east  of  the  Haouran  >  280 

Passage  of  the  Zerka  in  Bashan  j  *  *  ’ 

View  of  Tiberias . 296 

Gate  at  Antioch . 320 

Portico  of  the  Temple  of  the  Sun  at  Baalbec . 325 

Temple  at  Baalbec . 327 

Grand  Gallery  at  Palmyra . 337 

Jerusalem  from  the  South  . 349 

Jerusalem  from  the  North . ih. 

Gardens  of  Solomon  . . ib. 

Convent  of  Zahle . 353 

The  Kadischa  of  Lebanon . 358 

Mount  Tabor . 362 

Cedars  of  Lebanon . 36^ 


INTRODFCTION. 


True  in  all  their  emphatic  meaning  have  been  tlie 
words  of  the  prophet  for  many  ages  past,  Who  shall 
have  pity  upon  thee,  O  Jerusalem  1  or  who  shall  bemoan 
thee  ?  or  who  shall  turn  aside  to  ask  how  thou  doest  ?* 
Yet  the  time  cometh  when  the  truth  of  other  words  of 
more  propitious  omen  shall  be  as  clearly  seen :  “  PYr 
the  Lord  hath  proclaimed  unto  the  end  of  the  world, 
say  ye  to  the  daughter  of  Zion,  Behold,  thy  salvation 
cometh ;  behold  his  reward  is  with  him,  and  his  work 
before  him,  and  they  shall  call  them.  The  holy  people, 
The  redeemed  of  the  Lord  :  and  thou  shall  he  called, 
sought  out,  a  city  not  for  sakenr\ 

While  the  Jews  have  been  scattered  among  all  na¬ 
tions  under  heaven,  the  land  of  Israel — except  in  history 
and  in  the  associations  pertaining  to  ancient  times, 
which  suffer  it  not  to  be  dissevered  from  the  minds  or 
memories  of  Christians  or  Jews — was  long  almost  for¬ 
gotten  as  an  existing  country,  and  its  actual  condition 
in  a  great  measure  unknown.  After  the  age  of  the 
Crusades,  it  ceased  to  exercise  any  influence  on  the 
world  at  large,  or  any  peculiar  general  interest  in  Asia 
or  Europe.  Its  political  importance  was  gone ;  and 
by  the  discovery  of  a  new  passage  to  India,  the  line 
of  communication  between  these  two  quarters ‘of  the 
world  was  turned  far  from  its  shores.  Its  coast,  though 
the  cradle  of  commerce,  was  desolate,  lone,  and  unvis¬ 
ited,  the  prey  of  barbarism  and  the  resort  of  wild 
beasts.  And  it  was  only  towards  the  close  of  the  last, 
and  the  commencement  of  the  present  century,  that 
Syria  began  to  be  inquired  after,  and  to  reassert  its 
claim  to  the  notice  of  the  world.  Bereaving  the  na¬ 
tions  of  men,  as  foretold,  and  partly  fulfilled,  it  became 

*  Jer.,  XV.,  5.  .  t  Isa.,  Ixii.,  11,  12. 


X 


INTRODUCTION. 


during  the  Crusades  the  conamon  grave  of  Europe,  of  ; 
Asia,  and  of  Africa,  yet  it  could  not  be  rescued  from  | 
the  hands  of  infidel  but  not  idolatrous  Moslems,  but  j 
was  left  to  the  unmarked  progress  of  decay  and  deso¬ 
lation,  till  its  once  vine-clad  mountains  are  bare,  and 
its  cities  waste,  and  its  plains  desolate,  and  nothing  but 
the  scantling  of  a  population  left  in  the  land,  for  the 
possession  of  which  many  myriads  had  contended,  and 
which  in  times  more  ancient  had  been  thickly  studded 
with  cities.  Yet  these,  when  reduced  to  desolation, 
had  ruins  sufficient  in  an  inquiring  age  to  attract  the 
traveller,  and  to  command  admiration.  They  were 
successively  searched  out,  visited,  and  portrayed,  till, 
strange  to  say,  Tadmor  or  Palmyra,  Baalath  or  Baal-  j 
bee,  built  by  Solomon,  Petra  and  Geresa,  became,  in 
succession,  novelties  to  the  world.  New  causes  speed¬ 
ily  conspired  to  attach  a  higher  interest  than  that  of 
curiosity  to  Syria.  Lying  at  the  extremity  of  the 
Mediterranean,  between  Britain  and  India,  its  locality 
in  a  commercial  view  raised  it,  by  the  invention  of 
steam  navigation,  into  a  new  importance  ;  and  the  traf¬ 
fic,  or  at  least  communication  between  Asia  and  Eu¬ 
rope,  pointed,  after  the  lapse  of  ages,  towards  its  direct 
and  original  channels.  And  as  the  contest  between 
these  quarters  of  the  globe  for  its  possession  had  rivet¬ 
ed  on  it  in  former  ages  the  attention  of  the  world,  so 
all  eyes  were  fixed  on  it  again  in  the  course  of  the  last 
few  years,  when  the  question  of  its  subserviency  to  the 
Pacha  of  Egypt  or  the  Sultan  of  Turkey  was  a  ques¬ 
tion  of  the  integrity  or  existence  of  the  Ottoman  Em¬ 
pire,  and,  consequently,  of  peabe  or  war  throughout 
Europe  or  the  world. 

But  the  heritage  of  Jocob,  however  desolate  it  may 
lie,  or  by  whatever  hordes  of  Gentiles  it  may  be  trod¬ 
den  down,  has  far  higher  interest  attached  to  it  than 
that  of  being  a  field  for  the  inspection  of  ruins,  and  a 
higher  destiny  to  fulfil  than  that  of  a  bond  of  peace,  or 
a  cause  of  war,  or  any  apportioning  of  earthly  king¬ 
doms.  Of  that  land,  even  as  of  the  people  whose  it  is 
by  the  covenant  of  the  Lord  God  of  their  fathers,  we 


INTRODUCTION. 


XI 


can  speak  as  of  no  other.  Though  it  had  passed  as  an 
existing  state  into  oblivion,  and  men,  in  familiar  phrase, 
had  lost  sight  of  it,  and  no  one  bemoaned  it,  yet  the 
eyes  of  the  Lord  are  always  upon  it,  even  as  he  hath 
declared  of  Zion,/  have  graven  thee  upon  the  palms  of 
my  hands  ;  thy  walls  are  continually  before  me  ;  thy 
destroyers  and  they  that  made  thee  desolate  shall  go  forth 
of  thee.  Not  to  regard  the  peculiarity  of  the  land,  as 
well  as  of  the  people  Israel,  in  respect  to  the  threaten¬ 
ed  curses  and  the  promised  blessings,  is  to  miss  the 
proper  character,  and  to  omit  the  chief  discriminating 
feature  of  the  one  and  of  the  other.  It  would  be  as 
unwise  as  wicked  to  qualify  an  historical  statement,  or 
wrest  a  geographical  fact  in  accordance  with  a  fancy, 
whether  to  show  that  all  the  history  and  all  the  facts 
pertaining  to  their  land  may  be  explained  without  a 
miracle,  or  whether,  more  philosophically,  we  think  it 
be  indubitably  held,  in  illustrating  the  prophecies  con¬ 
cerning  both,  as  miraculous  throughout,  the  hand  of 
the  Lord  being  revealed  in  it  all.  The  facts  are  the 
same,  and  have  to  be  stated  with  the  same  precision 
and  truth,  whether  predicted  or  not.  The  additional 
fact,  that  they  were  foretold,  adds  a  new  import  to 
them  all,  and  solves  a  problem  otherwise  inexplicable. 
A  mystery,  in  the  marvellous  transition  it  has  under¬ 
gone,  seems  to  hang  over  the  land  as  over  the  people  ; 
and  the  desolation  of  the  one  is  analogous  in  character, 
and  coincident  in  time,  with  the  dispersion  of  the  other. 
But  the  sure  word  of  prophecy,  to  which  we  do  well  to 
take  heed,  unfolds  the  future,  as  it  revealed  the  past, 
and  lays  open  to  the  believer’s  view  the  declared,  but 
yet  unaccomplished  purpose  of  the  Lord,  which  can 
never  be  disannulled.  The  everlasting  covenant  with 
Abraham,  with  Isaac,  and  with  Jacob,  concerning  the 
land  as  the  everlasting  possession  of  their  seed,  was 
made  with  these  faithful  fathers  of  the  Hebrew  race 
before  that  covenant  was  made  with  the  Israelites 
under  Moses  and  Joshua,  the  curses  of  which,  not  heard 
of  till  then,  have  come  upon  the  land.  As  it  preceded, 
it  is  destined  to  survive  them  all.  Coming  history  must 


i 


Xii  INTRODUCTION. 

therefore  bear  its  part,  like  all  the  past,  in  the  actual 
and  finally  palpable  development,  in  the  sight  of  all 
men,  of  the  counsels  of  the  Holy  One  of  Israel,  the  God 
of  the  whole  earth,  as  He  yet  shall  he  called.  And  all 
the  idol-devotees  of  a  more  'worldly  policy  shall  be 
brought  to  see,  as  time  advances  and  momentous  events 
ensue  with  a  closeness  and  velocity  hitherto  unparallel¬ 
ed,  that  all  their  schemes  which  accord  not  with  the 
faith  that  He  is  the  Ruler  among  the  nations,  shall  lie 
as  low  as  the  once  mighty  Babylon,  of  which  nothing  is 
left,  and  which  has  crumbled  into  dust  before  His  word. 

The  full  accomplishment  of  the  judgments  that  were  . 
to  come  upon  the  land,  is  the  harbinger  of  the  comple¬ 
tion,  in  the  latter  days,  of  the  covenant  of  'promise. 
Expatriated  for  nearly  eighteen  centuries  as  the  Jews 
have  been,  all  connexion  between  them  and  the  land 
of  their  fathers,  were  they  a  people  numbered  among 
the  nations,  might  well  have  seemed  ere  now,  so  far  as 
human  foresight  could  discern,  to  have  ceased  forever. 
And  yet  the  separate,  though  similar  fates  of  the  land 
and  of  the  people  are,  in  fact,  so  closely  linked  togeth¬ 
er  and  interwoven  in  the  unerring  Word  of  the  un¬ 
changeable  Jehovah,  that  clearly  as  the  long-continued 
blindness  and  dispersion  of  the  Jews  were  foretold,  so 
clearly  does  the  very  degree  of  desolation  to  which 
their  fatherland  should  finally  be  reduced,  rank  among 
the  measures  of  the  time  of  their  return. 

The  Lord  said  to  Isaiah,  when  he  beheld  his  glory, 

“  Go,  and  tell  this  people.  Hear  ye  indeed,  but  under¬ 
stand  not ;  and  see  ye  indeed,  but  perceive  not.  Make 
the  heart  of  this  people  fat,  and  make  their  ears  heavy, 
and  shut  their  eyes  ;  lest  they  see  with  their  eyes,  and 
hear  with  their  ears,  and  understand  with  their  heart, 
and  convert, and  be  healed.  Then  said  I,  How  long? 
And  He  answered,  Until  the  cities  be  wasted  without 
inhabitant,  and  the  houses  without  man,  and  the  land 
be  utterly  desolate,  and  the  Lord  have  removed  men 
far  away,  and  there  be  a  great  forsaking  in  the  midst 
of  the  land.  But  yet  in  it  shall  be  a  tenth,  and  it  shall 
return,  and  shall  be  eaten :  as  a  teil-tree  and  as  an  oak, 


INTRODUCTION. 


1 


xm 

whose  substance  is  in  them  when  they  cast  their  leaves, 
so  the  holy  seed  shall  be  the  substance  thereof.”* 

The  land  of  Israel,  as  possessed  and  peopled  of  old 
by  the  seed  of  Jacob,  and  also  the  neighbouring  re¬ 
gions,  which,  as  shown  in  the  following  pages,  were 
included  within  the  promised  inheritance,  are  so  full  of 
literal  illustrations  of  literal  predictions,  that,  as  the 
author  has  been  enabled  to  show  in  successive  editions 
of  the  Evidence  of  Prophecy,  the  truth  of  more  than 
two  hundred  texts,  or  upward  of  a  hundred  distinct 
prophecies,  may  be  read  in  the  history  and  existing 
•  state  of  the  land,  and  of  its  desolate  cities. f  The 
curses  of  the  covenant  which  the  Israelites  brake  are 
there  as  legible,  word  for  word,  as  in  the  oracles  of  the 
living  God,  whose  covenant  it  was,  and  who  made  it 
with  the  Israelites  when  they  first  entered  into  Canaan. 
They  have  taken  effect  till  nothing  more  than  the  pre¬ 
dicted  tenth  is  left. 

The  hope  expressed  in  the  preface  to  the  first  edition 
of  that  treatise,  of  bringing  the  subject  of  the  literal 
fulfilment  of  prophecy  into  view,  especially  as  illustra¬ 
ted  by  the  discoveries  of  recent  travellers,  has  been 
amply  realized  ;  and  many  prophetic  topics  that  need¬ 
ed  illustration  are  now  familiar  to  thousands.  It  is, 
therefore,  needless  to  repeat  the  proofs  of  the  existing 
desolation,  or  to  trace  anew  the  discriminating  features 
of  the  ruined  cities,  as  drawn  of  old  by  the  prophets. 
But  the  hope  is  cherished  of  presenting  many  of  them 
to  the  Christian  public,  and  of  setting  them  before  un¬ 
believers,  without  the  aid  either  of  the  pen  or  of  the 
pencil.  J  Yet,  as  one  reason,  among  many  others,  for 
exciting  interest  in  another  theme,  and  for  regarding 
other  words’ of  the  Lord  that  have  to  be  accomplished 
in  another  way,  the  degree  of  desolation  marked  in  the 
preceding  words  uttered  by  the  Lord  in  the  hearing  of 
the  prophet,  as  he  looked  upon  his  glory,  may  here 
prove  a  befitting  introduction  to  a  covenant  without  a 

*  Isa.,  vi.,  9-13.  t  Evidence  of  Prophecy,  p.  97-263. 

t  By  a  process  which  may  be  said  to  be  natural,  the  calyotype,  or  daguerre¬ 
otype. 

B 


XIV 


INTRODUCTION. 


curse.  No  man  hath  seen  the  Father  at  any  time  ; 
but  centuries  before  his  incarnation,  the  Lord  of  hostSf 
the  eternal  Word,  who  is  the  same  yesterday,  to-day, 
and  forever,  spake  to  the  prophet  of  the  long-continued 
blindness  and  impenitence  of  Israel,  and  answered  his 
question.  How  long?  by  an  appeal  to  what  the  land 
should  finally  become  ere  that  blindness  should  cease. 
But  the  Lord  did  not  appear  in  his  glory  to  Isaiah, 
amid  the  hallelujahs  of  the  cherubim,  and  send  an  angel 
to  touch  his  lips  with  a  live  coal  from  off  the  altar,  to 
enable  him  to  ask  the  question,  in  order  that  He  him¬ 
self  might  return  to  it  an  unmeaning  or  indefinite  an¬ 
swer.  It  becomes  man,  who  is  a  worm,  to  regard  with 
reverence,  and  to  hear  with  faith,  the  words  which  the 
Lord  hath  spoken.  “  My  days  are  like  a  shadow,  that 
declineth,”  saith  the  Psalmist ;  “  and  I  am  withered 
like  grass.  But  thou,  O  Lord,  shalt  endure  forever, 
and  thy  remembrance  unto  all  generations.  Thou 
shalt  arise,  and  have  mercy  upon  Zion  :  for  the  time  to 
favour  her,  yea,  the  set  time,  is  come.  For  thy  ser¬ 
vants  take  pleasure  in  her  stones,  and  favour  the  dust 
thereof ;  so  the  heathen  shall  fear  the  name  of  the 
Lord,  and  all  the  kings  of  the  earth  thy  glory.  When 
the  Lord  shall  build  up  Zion,  He  shall  appear  in  his 
/  glory.  He  will  regard  the  prayer  of  the  destitute,  and 
not  despise  their  prayer.  This  shall  he  written  for  the 
generation  to  come  ;  and  the  people  which  shall  be  cre¬ 
ated  shall  praise  the  Lord.”  As  thus  it  is  written  for 
a  generation  to  come,  so  the  Lord  appeared  in  his 
glory  to  Isaiah,  when  He  made  known  to  him  the 
time  of  the  final  termination  of  the  blindness  of  Israel. 

Earthly  sovereigns  are  the  executioners  of  the  judg¬ 
ments  of  the  heavenly  King ;  and  do,  even  when  it  is 
not  in  their  heart  to  think  so,  all  His  pleasure.  Often, 
as  unconsciously,  have  skeptical  writers,  like  Gibbon 
or  Volney,  recorded  the  things  by  which  His  word  is 
illustrated.  But  it  is  worthy  of  remark,  as  if  official  evi¬ 
dence  were  needed  here,  that  the  British  government, 
a  few  years  ago,  sent  forth  a  commissioner  to  make  in¬ 
quiry,  and  to  report  on  the  state  of  Syria,  whose  re- 


INTRODUCTION. 


XV 


port,  when  completed,  was  presented  to  both  houses  of 
Parliament  by  command  of  her  majesty.*  It  supplied 
some  striking  additional  illustrations,  seemingly  uncon¬ 
sciously  given,  of  literal  prophecies  concerning  the 
iand.f  Among  these,  not  the  least  remarkable  is  the 
very  first  paragraph  of  the  appendix,  or  the  report  of 
Mr.  Consul  Moore,  an  intelligent  observer,  who  has  re¬ 
sided  for  years  in  the  land. 

“  Syria  is  a  country  whose  population  bears  no  pro¬ 
portion  to  its  superficies,  and  the  inhabitants  may  be 
considered,  on  the  most  moderate  calculation,  as  re¬ 
duced  to  a  tithe  of  what  the  soil  could  abundantly 
maintain  under  a  wfiser  system  of  administration.”J 
And  in  the  body  of  the  report  it  is  stated  that  “  the 
country  is  capable  of  producing  tenfold  the  present 
produce.”§ 

According  to  the  Word  of  the  Lord,  They  that  dwell 
therein  are  desolate,  and  few  men  left.'^  The  city  that 
went  out  hy  a  thousand  shall  leave  a  hundred,  and  that 
which  went  out  hy  a  hundred  shall  leave  ten,  to  the  house 
of  Israel.^\  Make  the  hearts  of  this  people  fat,  and 
make  their  ears  heavy,  and  shut  their  eyes,  ^c.  And  I 
said.  How  long  1  And  He  answered.  Until  the  cities 
be  wasted  without  inhabitant,  and  the  houses  without 
man,  &c. ;  but  yet  in  it  shall  be  a  tenth,  &c. 

Is  it  not  time,  then,  to  look  to  another  covenant  than 
that  which  bears  the  curses  that  have  indeed  devoured 
the  land,  but  have  also  their  term  assigned  them  by 
the  Lord  ? 

“  The  covenant  of  works,  and  the  covenant  of  grace,” 
have  often  divided  Christian  theology  between  them, 
as  in  some  respects  they  rightly  may.  But  there  are 
other  or  more  defined  covenants  in  the  Word  of  God, 
to  which  it  becomes  believers  to  have  respect.  That 
which  God  made  with  Abraham,  of  promise  and  of 
grace,  is  everlasting,  and  knows  no  other  termination 
than  that  of  the  heavens  and  of  the  earth. 

*■  Report  on  the  Commercial  Statistics  of  Syria,  London,  1840. 

t  Evidence  of  Prophecy,  p,  427-9.  t  Report  on  Syria,  p.  111. 

4  Report  on  Syria,  p.  90.  ||  Isaiah,  xxiv.,  6,  Amos,  v.,  3. 


XVI 


INTRODUCTION. 


In  the  subsequent  pages  the  perpetuity  of  that  covC" 
nant  concerning  the  land,  and  its  connexion  with  that 
which  was  made  with  the  Israelites  when  the  Lord 
brought  them  out  of  Egypt,  and  with  the  new  and  ever¬ 
lasting  covenant  which  He  will  make  with  the  house 
of  Israel,  and  with  the  house  of  Judah,  and  also  with 
the  covenant  which  the  Lord  made  with  David  con¬ 
cerning  his  throne,  is,  in  the  first  place,  brought  within 
the  view  of  the  reader.  The  borders  of  the  land,  not 
as  it  was  anciently  possessed,  but  as  set  of  the  Lord, 
naturally  form  the  immediately  succeeding  theme, 
which  is  treated  at  so  great  length  as  to  demand  an 
apology.  But  so  little  was  the  writer  aware,  ere  he 
entered  on  the  investigation,  of  the  full  extent,  especial¬ 
ly  on  the  north,  of  the  Scriptural  boundaries  of  the 
promised  land,  that,  when  requested  at  a  recent  date 
to  mark  their  limits  for.  the  construction  of  a  map,  he 
drew  a  line  a  little  to  the  north  of  Hamath,  conscious 
that  it  was  included  ;  but,  unobservant  then  of  the  pre¬ 
cise  Scriptural  definition  of  the  entrance  into  Hamath, 
he  drew  it  regardless  of  any  entrance,  or  any  natural 
border  whatever,  across  a  double  chain  of  mountains. 
This  obvious  error  led  to  a  closer  examination.  And 
now  he  can  plead  only  the  novelty  of  the  topic  in  ex¬ 
cuse  for  this  lengthened  illustration,  for  which,  if  he 
mistake  not,  a  few  words  may  henceforth  suffice,  with¬ 
out  the  hazard  of  a  repetition  of  the  error. 

In  the  sequel  of  the  volume  proof  is  adduced,  from 
its  past  history  and  actual  condition,  of  the  goodliness 
of  the  land  ;  of  its  natural  fertility,  not  impaired,  but 
increased  ;  and  also  of  the  facility  with  which  its  fallen 
cities  may  be  raised  from  their  foundation,  and  forsa¬ 
ken  cities,  though  not  fallen,  even  cities  still  existing, 
though  without  inhabitants,  and  houses  still  standing, 
though  without  man,  may  be  repaired  or  restored  to 
dwell  in. 

The  land  of  promise,  rightly  bearing  that  title  still 
when  looked  at  as  it  is,  appears,  indeed,  like  an  oak 
which  the  storms  of  winter  have  stripped  of  its  leaves. 
But  in  taking  up  the  covenant  with  Abraham,  and 


INTRODUCTION. 


XVU 


Isaac,  and  Jacob,  it  is  not  in  that  aspect  that  we  would 
view  it  here  ;  but  rather  would  we  look  to  what  it  has 
been,  and  to  the  substance  that  is  in  it  still,  in  order  to 
show  what,  in  accordance  with  the  Abrahamic  cove¬ 
nant,  and  many  precious  promises  of  Scripture,  it  yet 
shall  be,  when  that  substance  which  is  in  it  shall  put 
forth  its  fullest  foliage  anew,  even  richer  and  more 
beauteous  than  ever ;  and  the  bare  and  naked  land  be 
covered  and  clothed  again,  like  an  oak  of  Bashan  in 
summer. 

The  desolation  of  many  cities,  as  illustrative  of 
prophecy,  might  be  told  in  a  word ;  but  the  practica¬ 
bility  of  their  restoration  demands  a  closer  inspection. 
Nay,  the  ruins  would  all  need  to  be  disclosed  to  view, 
as  has  been  of  late  partially  the  case  with  some,  be¬ 
fore  a  complete  idea  could  be  formed  of  the  amplitude 
of  the  materials  ready  for  reconstruction.  The  ruins 
of  Syria  are  not  like  those  of  many  othpr  lands ;  not 
like  those  of  Egypt,  for  instance,  often  buried  beneath 
the  sand ;  nor  like  those  of  other  countries,  where 
bi’oken  fragments  of  once  connected  walls  encumber 
the  ground,  incapable  of  being  built  up  again.  But 
better  promises  than  Israel,  or  any  other  nation  ever 
yet  inherited,  have  in  these  pages  to  be  kept  ultimate¬ 
ly  in  view.  And  we  would  here  draw  from  the  past, 
or  describe  the  present,  to  show  how,  in  respect  to  the 
land,  all  things  are  ready,  or  ripening  fast  for  the  com¬ 
pletion — it  may  be  at  no  distant  day,  though  other 
judgments  yet  intervene — of  the  covenant  with  faith¬ 
ful  Abraham,  to  which  no  curses  are  annexed  ;  and 
also  how  the  past  and  still  visible  judgments  which 
come  upon  the  land  may  be  viewed  as  pointing  to,  and 
preparing  for,  the  time  when  mercy  shall  rejoice  over 
them,  and  the  world,  with  all  its  families,  blessed  in 
the  seed  of  Jacob,  be  a  witness  that  the  God  of  Israel 
is  a  covenant-keeping  God,  who  will  not  suffer  his 
faithfulness  to  fail,  but  overrules  all  things  for  the  final 
accomplishment  of  his  word,  and  for  the  ultimate  man¬ 
ifestation  of  his  glory. 


B2 


THE  LAND  OF  ISRAEL 


MY  COVENANT  WILL  I  NOT  BREAK,  NOR  ALTER  THE  THING  THAT 
IS  GONE  OUT  OF  MY  MOUTH.— Ixxxix.,  34. 


CHAPTER  I. 

THE  COVENANT  WITH  ABRAHAM  RESPECTING  THE  LAND - 

ITS  PERPETUITY. 

SECTION  I. 

The  name  of  “  the  land  of  Canaan”  is  nearly  coeval  with 
the  deluge.  And  the  names  of  ancient  cities,  still  attached 
to  the  same  localities,  serve  at  once  to  fix  the  site  of  the  ter¬ 
ritory  possessed  by  the  Canaanites,  when  “  the  nations  were 
divided  after  the  flood.”  Sidon^  the  father  of  the  Sidonians, 
was  the  eldest  son  of  Canaan,  the  grandson  of  Noah.  “  The 
border  of  the  Canaanites  was  from  Sidon,  as  thou  comest  to 
Gerar  unto  Gaza,”*  &c.  “  The  families  of  the  Canaanites 

were  spread  abroad,”  and  they  speedily  occupied  extensive 
regions  in  Syria. 

The  dwelling  of  the  families  of  Shem,  of  whom  came  the 
Hebrew  race,  was  in  the  east.f  Abram  dwelt  in  Ur  of  the 
Chaldees,  beyond  the  Euphrates. :|: 

From  the  time  that  God  blessed  Noah,  after  the  deluge, 
there  is  no  record  that  his  voice  was  heard  by  man  till  He 
appeared  unto  Abram,  when  he  was  in  Mesopotamia. §  Four 
hundred  years  subsequent  to  the  establishment  of  the  cove¬ 
nant  with  Noah  and  his  seed,  the  word  of  the  Lord  came 
unto  the  son  of  Terah,  a  descendant  of  Shem,  •'  Get  thee  out 
of  thy  country,  and  from  thy  kindred,  and  from  thy  father’s 
house,  unto  a  land  that  I  will  show  thee ;  and  I  will  make  of 
thee  a  great  nation,  and  I  will  bless  thee,  and.  make  thy  name 
great ;  and  thou  shalt  he  a  blessing :  and  I  will  bless  them 
that  bless  thee,  and  curse  him  that  curseth  thee :  and  in  thee 
shall  all  the  families  of  the  earth  be  blessed.  So  Abram  de¬ 
parted,  as  the  Lord  had  spoken  unto  him.  And  Abram  took 

*  Gen.,  X.,  10.  t  Ibid.,  30.  t  Ilud.,  xv.,  7.  Acts,  rii.,  2, 


20 


THE  PERPETUITY  OF  THE  COVENANT 


Sarai  his  wife,  and  Lot,  his  brother’s  son,  and  all  their  sub¬ 
stance  that  they  had  gathered,  and  the  souls  that  they  had 
gotten  in  Haran  ;  and  they  went  forth  to  go  into  the  land  of 
Canaan ;  and  into  the  land  of  Canaan  they  came.  And 
Abram  passed  through  the  land  unto  the  'plain  of  Sichem, 
unto  the  plain  of  Moreh.  And  the  Canaanite  was  then  in  the 
land.  And  the  Lord  appeared  unto  Abram,  and  said,  Unto 
THY  SEED  WILL  I  GIVE  THIS  LAND  I  and  there  builded  he  an 
altar  unto  the  Lord,  who  appeared  unto  him.”* 

A  grievous  famine  prevailing  afterward  in  Canaan,  Abram 
went  down  into  Egypt,  to  sojourn  for  a  season.  After  his 
return,  as  on  his  first  entrance  into  Canaan,  the  promise  was 
confirmed  and  renewed  more  amply  than  before  :  “  And  the 
Lord  said  unto  Abram,  after  Lot  was  separated  from  him^ 
Lift  up  now  thine  eyes,  and  look  from  the  place  where  thou 
art,  northward,  and  southward,  and  eastward,  and  west¬ 
ward  ;  for  all  the  land  which  thou  seest,  to  thee  'will  I  give 
it,  and  to  thy  seed  forever.  Arise,  walk  through  the  land,  in 
the  length  of  it  and  in  the  breadth  of  it :  for  I  will  give  it 
unto  thee.”t 

Again,  after  Abram  had  long  sojourned  in  the  land,  the 
repeated  promises  of  the  Lord  assumed  the  form  of  a  cove¬ 
nant,  confirmed  by  visible  signs,  by  which,  as  it  were,  the 
Lord  pledged  himself  to  their  fulfilment ;  and  He  set  the 
bounds  of  the  destined  inheritance  of  his  seed.  “  The  Word 
of  the  Lord  came  unto  Abram  in  a  vision,  saying.  Fear  not, 
Abram  ;  I  am  thy  shield  and  thy  exceeding  great  reward. 
Already  had  he  shown  his  faith  by  his  works ;  he  had  left 
his  own  country  at  the  Divine  command,  not  knowing  whith¬ 
er  he  was  to  go,  but  as  the  Lord  would  show  him  ;  and 
when  the  aged  and  childless  pilgrim  was  told  that  his  own 
son,  and  no  other,  should  be  his  heir,  and  that  his  seed 
should  be  numerous  as  the  stars  of  heaven,  he  believed  in 
the  Lord,  arid  He  counted  it  to  him  for  righteousness .  A 
Chaldean,  dwelling  in  the  midst  of  idolaters,  had  been  call¬ 
ed  by  the  Lord,  and  had  left  his  country,  his  kindred,  and 
his  father’s  house,  at  his  command ;  he  had  gone  childless 
for  many  a  year,  till  hoary  hairs  were  upon  him,  a  wander- 
ing  pilgrim  in  a  land  of  strangers ;  and  the  steward  of  his 
house  was  Eliezer  of  Damascus.  Had  not  the  Almighty 
otherwise  decreed,  his  name,  in  a  few  short  years  at  the  far¬ 
thest,  would  have  been  blotted  out  from  under  heaven.  But 

*  Gen.,  zii.,  1-6.  t  Ihid.,  xiii.,  14,  15,  17.  t  Ibid.,  xy. ,  1. 


I 


CONCERNING  THE  LAND. 


21 


when  the  Word  of  the  Lord  came  to  him,  saying,  “  This 
shall  not  be  thine  heir  ;  but  he  that  shall  come  forth  of  thine 
own  bowels  shall  be  thine  heir,”  he  believed.  And  when 
“  the  Lord  brought  him  forth  abroad  and  said.  Look  now  to¬ 
wards  heaven  and  tell  the  stars,  if  thou  be  able  to  number 
them,”  the  childless  man  lifted  up  his  aged,  head,  and,  in  a 
pure  and  cloudless  atmosphere  unknown  in  gloomy  regions, 
he  looked  upon  the  untold  and  numberless  stars  that  thickly 
studded  the  whole  firmament  of  heaven  ;  and  when  the  Word 
of  the  Lord  said  unto  him.  So  shall  thy  seed  he^  he  believed 
in  the  Lord ;  and  He  counted  it  to  him  for  righteousness. 
And  He  said  unto  him,  I  am  the  Lord,  that  brought  thee  out 
of  Ur  of  the  Chaldees,  to  give  thee  this  land  to  inherit  it.* 
It  was  enough  for  Abram  that  the  Lord  had  spoken.  It  was 
counted  enough  by  the  Lord  that  Abram  believed.  And  the 
time  was  come  when  the  Lord  made  a  covenant  between 
himself  and  Abram. 

Believing  the  promise,  and  not  distrusting  the  power  of 
God,  but  knowing  that  all  things  were  possible  utito  Him, 
“  Abram  said.  Lord  God,  whereby  shall  I  know  that  I  shall 
inherit  it  ?”  He  was  commanded  to  take  a  heifer,  a  goat,  a 
ram,  a  turtle  dove,  and  a  young  pigeon  ;  and  he  took  them, 
and  divided  them  in  the  midst,  and  laid  each  piece  over 
against  the  other.  All  that  Abram  could  farther  do  was 
to  drive  away  the  fowls  from  the  carcasses  till  the  going 
down  of  the  sun.  Then  a  great  horror  of  darkness  fell 
upon  him.  “  And  when  the  sun  went  down,  and  it  was  dark, 
behold  a  smoking  furnace,  and  a  burning  lamp,  that  passed 
between  those  pieces.  In  the  same  day  the  Lord  made  a 
covenant  with  Abram,  saying.  Unto  thy  seed  will  I  give  this 
land.,  from  the  River  of  Egypt  unto  the  great  river ,  the  River 
Euphrates <fec. 

Finally,  when  Abram  was  ninety  years  old  and  nine,  a 
year  before  the  birth  of  Isaac,  and  when  Ishmael  was  thir¬ 
teen  years  old, the  covenant  was  renewed  with  Abraham,  call¬ 
ed  Abram  no  more,  but  destined  to  be,  as  designated,  a  “  fa¬ 
ther  of  many  nations.”  The  boundaries  of  the  promised  land 
having  been  fixed  by  the  covenant,  the  perpetual  duration  of 
the  inheritance,  as  previously  promised,  came  also  specially 
within  its  bonds  :  “  I  will  e^blish  my  covenant  between 
me  and  thee,  and  thy  seed  afrer  thee,  in  their  generations, 
for  an  everlasting  covenant,  to  be  a  God  unto  thee,  and  to  thy 

'  Gen.,  XV.,  1-7.  t  Ibid.,  7-12,  17,  18,  &c. 


22 


THE  PERPETUITY  OP  THE  COVENANT 


seed  after  thee.  And  I  will  give  unto  thee,  and  to  thy  seed 
after  thee,  the  land  wherein  thou  art  a  stranger,  all  the  land 
of  Canaan,  for  an  everlasting  possession ;  and  I  will  be  their 
God.”"= 

At  the  same  time,  circumcision  was  instituted  as  a  perpet¬ 
ual  token  of  an  everlasting  covenant,  which  it  was  also  call¬ 
ed  ;  “  This  is  my  covenant  which  ye  shall  keep,  between 
me  and  you,  and  thy  seed  after  thee  :  Every  man  child 
among  you  shall  be  circumcised  ;  and  it  shall  be  a  token  of 
the  covenant  betwixt  me  and  you  :  He  that  is  born  in  thy 
house,  and  he  that  is  bought  with  thy  money,  must  needs 
be  circumcised :  and  rny  covenant  shall  be  in  your  flesh  for 
an  everlasting  covenant.'’'^ 

After  the  death  of  Abraham,  and  after  Esau  had  sold  his 
birthright  to  Jacob,  a  famine  arose  again  in  Canaan,  and  Isaac, 
once  in  his  life,  purposed  to  leave  the  land  of  promise.  And 
once,  too,  at  that  very  time,  the  Lord  appeared  unto  him  and 
said,  “  Go  not  down  into  Egypt ;  dwell  in  the  land  which  I 
shall  telfthee  of.  Sojourn  in  this  land,  and  I  will  be  with 
thee,  and  will  bless  thee :  for  unto  thee  and  unto  thy  seed 
I  will  give  all  these  cou7itries ;  and  I  will  perform  the  oath 
which  I  sware  unto  Abraham  thy  father,  and  I  will  make  thy 
seed  to  multiply  as  the  stars  of  heaven,  and  will  give  unto 
thy  seed  all  these  countries ;  and  in  thy  seed  shall  all  the  na¬ 
tions  of  the  earth  be  blessed,”  &c.j; 

Jacob  abode  not  always,  like  his  father  Isaac,  in  the  land 
bf  Canaan.  His  mother  Rebekah,  alarmed  for  his  life,  be¬ 
cause  of  the  fury  of  his  brother,  and  his  father,  fearful  lest 
he  should  take  a  wife  of  the  daughters  of  Canaan,  charged 
him  to  go  to  Padanaram  to  the  house  of  Bethuel.  “  God  Al¬ 
mighty  bless  thee,”  said  Isaac  to  his  departing  son,  “  and  give 
thee  the  blessing  of  Abraham,  to  thee,  and  to  thy  seed  with 
thee  ;  that  thou  mayest  inherit  the  land  wherein  thou  art  a 
stranger,  which  God  gave  unto  Abraham. ”§  Stranger  in  the 
land  as  he  was,  Jacob  left  it  not  without  far  more  than  a  pater¬ 
nal  and  patriarchal  blessing.  “  He  went  out  from  Beersheba, 
and  went  towards  Haran  ;”  but  he  did  not  rest  the  first  night 
on  his  journey,  nor  reach  the  borders  of  the  land,  till  the  God 
of  Abraham  and  of  Isaac  gave  him  to  know  that  He  was  also 
the  God  of  Jacob.  And  w^n  stones  were  his  pillow  and 
the  earth  his  bed,  the  destinro  father  of  the  twelve  tribes  of 
Israel  received  the  promise  that  the  land  should  be  theirs. 

*  Gad.,  xvii.,  7,  8.  t  Ibid.,  9-13.  i  Ibid.,x2vi.,  1-4  ^  Ibid.,  xsviii.,  4. 


CONCERNING  THE  LAND. 


28 


“  I  am  the  Lord  God  of  Abraham  thy  father,  and  the  God  of 
Isaac  :  the  land  whereon  thou  liest,  to  thee  will  I  give  it,  and  to 
thy  seed :  And  thy  seed  shall  be  as  the  dust  of  the  earth ; 
and  thou  shalt  spread  abroad  to  the  west,  and  to  the  east,  and 
to  the  north,  and  to  the  south :  and  in  thee  and  in  thy  seed 
shall  all  the  families  of  the  earth  be  blessed.  And,  behold, 
I  am  with  thee,  and  will  keep  thee  in  all  places  whither 
thou  goest,  and  will  bring  thee  again  into  this  land ;  for  I 
will  not  leave  thee  until  I  have  done  that  which  I  have  spoken 
to  thee  off* 

God  did  not  leave  Jacob,  but  did  bring  him  again  into  the 
land,  and  appeared  unto  him  a  second  time  when  he  came 
out  of  Padanaram,  and  blessed  him,  and  said,  The  land  which 
I  gave  Abraham  and  Isaac,  to  thee  will  I  give  it,  and  to  thy  seed 
after  thee  will  I  give  the  landf 

And  when  Jacob,  in  extreme  old  age,  took  his  journey, 
with  all  that  he  had,  to  go  down  to  Egypt  to  his  son  Joseph, 
to  return  no  more,  as  a  living  man,  to  Canaan,  the  Lord  at 
the  last,  as  at  the  first,  suffered  him  not  to  reach  the  border 
of  the  land  without  a  renewal  of  his  promise  and  reassurance 
of  its  truth.  “  And  God  spake  unto  Israel  in  the  vision  of 
the  night,  and  said,  Jacob,  Jacob ;  and  he  said,  Here  am  I. 
And  he  said,  I  am  God,  the  God  of  thy  father;  fear  not  to 
go  down  into  Egypt ;  for  I  will  make  thee  there  a  great  na¬ 
tion.  I  will  go  down  with  thee  into  Egypt ;  and  I  will  also 
surely  bring  thee  up ;  and  Joseph  shall  put  his  hand  upon 
thine  eyes.”| 

Israel,  full  of  faith,  before  his  eyes  were  closed  in  death, 
charged  all  his  sons,  and  made  Joseph  swear  unto  him,  not 
to  bury  him  in  Egypt,  but  to  carry  him  out  from  thence,  and 
bury  him  in  the  field  of  Machpelah,  in  the  land  of  Canaan, 
in  the  burying-place  of  his  fathers  and  he  recounted  the 
promise  of  the  Lord  :  “  Behold,  I  will  make  thee  fruitful  and 
multiply  thee,  and  will  make  of  thee  a  multitude  of  people ; 
and  will  give  this  land  to  thy  seed  after  thee,  for  an  everlast¬ 
ing  possessions^ 

Joseph  also,  dying  in  the  faith,  “  said  unto  his  brethren, 
I  die  :  and  God  will  surely  visit  you,  and  bring  you  out  of 
this  land  unto  the  land  which  He  sware  to  Abraham,  to  Isaac, 
and  to  Jacob  ;  and  Joseph  took  an  oath  of  the  children  of 
Israel,  saying,  God  will  surely  visit  you,  and  ye  shall  carry 
up  my  bones  from  henceS^ 

Gan.,  xxviii.,  13-15.  t  Ibid.,  xxxv.,  0-12.  I  Ibic1.,xlvi.,  1-4. 

0  Ibid.,  xlvii.,  29,  30;  xlix.,e0-32.  !|  Ibid.,  xlviii.,  4.  1  Ibid.,  1,,  24, 23. 


24 


THE  PERPETUITY  OF  THE  COVENANT 


Such  is  the  heaven-chartered  right  of  the  seed  of  Israel 
to  the  land  of  Canaan.  And  such  is  its  confirmation,  by  the 
clear  promises,  attested  covenant,  and  repeated  oath  of  the 
Lord  God,  as  recorded  in  the  first  book  of  the  Bible. 

In  the  brief  scriptural  history  of  the  antediluvian  world, 
there  is  no  record  that  the  Lord  spake  unto  man  from  the 
time  that  the  first-born  of  the  human  race  became  the  mur¬ 
derer  of  the  second,  and  Cain  was  cursed  from  the  earth, 
till  God  said  unto  Noah,  when  all  fiesh  had  corrupted  his 
way  upon  the  earth,  “  The  end  of  all  flesh  is  come  before 
me,  for  the  earth  is  filled  with  violence  through  them,  and 
behold,  I  will  destroy  them  from  the  earth.”*  And  after 
the  sole  covenant  was  made  with  Noah  and  his  sons,  centu¬ 
ries  again  passed  away,  and  the  voice  of  the  Lord  was  not 
heard  by  man  till  a  descendant  of  Shem,  in  Ur  of  the  Chal¬ 
dees,  was  commanded  to  leave  his  country,  and  go  into  anoth¬ 
er  and  strange  land.  There  is  something  strikingly  peculiar 
in  the  command  here  given,  as  pertaining  to  the  land  whith¬ 
er  he  was  to  go,  as  well  as  to  the  person,  in  commanding 
whom  to  go  thither,  the  long  silence,  so  very  seldom  inter¬ 
rupted  since  communion  with  God  was  lost  by  sin,  was  thus 
broken  at  last  by  a  voice  from  heaven,  the  voice  of  the  Lord, 
“  Get  thee  out  from  thy  country,  and  from  thy  kindred,  and 
from  thy  father’s  house,  unto  a  land  that  I  will  show  thee.” 
The  Lord  who  had  called  him  was  to  show  him  the  land. 
The  one  was  chosen  as  well  as  the  other.  And  the  least 
observant  reader  can  hardly  fail  to  see,  from  the  mere  jux¬ 
taposition  and  connected  sequence  of  the  preceding  passages 
of  Scripture,  how  rapidly,  in  marvellous  contrast  with  all  the 
previous  history  of  fallen  man,  vision  succeeded  to  vision  ; 
and  the  same  Divine  promise  was  ratified  and  renewed,  again 
and  again,  by  a  covenant  and  by  an  oath,  according  as  Abra¬ 
ham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob,  in  whose  seed  all  the  families  of  the 
earth  should  finally  be  blessed,  entered,  or  left,  or  even  pur¬ 
posed  to  leave,  or  returned  to  the  land  of  Canaan.  That 
land  was  thus  set  apart  as  the  everlasting  possession  of  the 
seed  of  Israel,  as  never  was  any  land  to  any  other  people. 

The  covenant  was  made  with  Abraham,  and  with  Isaac,  and 
with  Jacob.  Not  all  of  Abraham’s  nor  of  Isaac’s  seed  were 
destined  to  possess  the  land  ;  for  both  of  them  had  other  de¬ 
scendants,  to  whom  the  promise  did  not  pertain,  and  who 
had  no  inheritance  in  Israel.  But  the  covenant,  limited  to 

Gon.,  vi.,  12,  13. 


CONCERNING  THE  LAND. 


25 


the  seed  of  Jacob,  and  embracing  them  all,  no  longer  per¬ 
tained  to  any  single  mortal,  as  to  him,  but  embraced  all  the 
tribes  of  Israel,  to  whom  the  land  was  allotted,  and  among 
whom  in  after  ages  it  was  apportioned.  And  whenever  it 
was  thus  completed,  generation  after  generation  passed 
away  ;  and,  for  a  long  season,  the  voice  of  the  Lord  was  si¬ 
lent  again. 

But  the  faith  of  the  patriarchs  was  not  in  vain.  The  chil¬ 
dren  of  Israel,  in  the  appointed  time,  went  up  into  the  land 
to  which  the  dead  body  of  Jacob  had  been  carried,  and  Jo¬ 
seph  did  notin  vain  give  commandment  respecting  his  bones, 
which  were  carried  up  by  Moses  and  buried  by  Joshua  in 
Canaan.  In  that  land,  save  the  cave  of  Machpelah,  and  a 
parcel  of  a  field  in  Shechem,  each  a  burying-place,  the  seed 
of  Jacob  had  not  a  foot  of  ground,  which,  by  any  human 
right,  they  could  call  their  own.  Nor,  though  these  had 
been  purchased  by  their  patriarchal  fathers,  could  the  pos¬ 
session  of  them  be  claimed  by  a  race  of  slavms  in  Egypt. 
Their  right — -'not  to  a  spot  or  two  for  a  burying-place — but 
to  the  whole  land  for  an  everlasting  possession,  rested  not  on 
an  agreement  with  the  sons  of  Heth  or  the  sons  of  Harnor, 
but  on  the  covenant  of  the  Lord  God  of  their  fathers. 

Prescription  for  forty,  or  four  hundred  years,  or  even,  as 
now,  for  a  far  longer  period,  cannot  be  valid  against  the  word 
of  the  living  God,  in  whose  sight  a  thousand  years  are  as 
one  day,  and  to  whom  the  earth  belongs.  It  runs  not  against 
titles,  guarantied  by  human  compact,  and  sanctioned  by  hu¬ 
man  laws.  But  there  never  was  a  right  or  title  to  any  in¬ 
heritance  or  possession,  given  not  by  man,  but  by  God,  as 
that  with  which  the  seed  of  Israel  was  invested  over  C’ana- 
an.  “  The  lot  of  their  inheritance,”  “  the  heritage  of  Jacob,” 
was  defined,  decreed,  and  confirmed  to  them  by  the  prom¬ 
ise,  the  covenant,  and  the  oath  of  the  Lord  of  the  whole 
earth.  That  covenant,  as  they  were  foretold  and  forewarned, 
might,  as  to  its  operation,  be  suspended  for  a  season,  and 
seem  to  be  annulled  forever  ;  but,  however  hr)peless  its  ex¬ 
ecution  might  at  any  time  appear,  it  was  never  repealed,  and 
would  not  always  be  forgotten.  As  Abraham,  against  hope, 
believed  in  hope,  when,  bordering  on  his  hundreth  year,  he 
trusted  and  knew  that  the  promised  blessings  would  rest  on 
the  innumerable  descendants  of  his  then  unborn  son,  so, 
when  generation  after  generation  of  ihe  children  of  Israel 
was  held  in  Egyptian  bondage,  and  the  very  straw  was 

C 


26 


THE  PERPETUITY  OF  THE  COVENANT 


withheld  from  them*  which  was  needful  to  make  bricks  to 
their  masters,  they  would  have  believed  against  hope,  or  all 
conceivable  likelihood  that  it  would  ever  be  realized,  in 
thinking  that  the  goodly  land  of  Canaan  would  be  theirs. 
God  might  have  seemed  to  be  the  God  of  any  other  race 
than  of  the  enslaved  and  toilworn  children  of  Israel,  under* 
the  rods  of  Egyptian  taskmasters.  Yet  it  was  not  hid  from' 
Abraham,  but  from  the  word  of  God  he  knew  assuredly  that 
his  seed  should  be  a  stranger  in  a  land  not  theirs,  wherein 
they  should  be  long  afflicted  ;  but  he  knew  also  that  they 
should  come  with  great  substance  into  the  land  of  Canaan 
again,  though  more  than  four  centuries  should  elapse  from 
the  time  the  promise  was  given  ere  it  should  begin  to  be  re¬ 
alized.! 

The  Lord,  in  his  appointed  time  and  way,  saves,  from 
troubles  however  great  or  enemies  however  strong,  by  many 
or  by  few.  It  was  when  the  lives  of  the  children  of  Israel 
were  bitter  with  hard  bondage,  and  the  commandment  had 
been  given  by  the  King  of  Egypt  that  every  newbora.  male 
child  of  the  Israelites  should  be  killed,  that  an  infant  lying 
in  an  ark  of  bulrushes  amid  the  flags  by  the  river’s  brink 
was  raised  up  to  be  the  deliverer  of  Israel.  Atter  being 
trained  in  the  house  of  Pharaoh,  he  fled  from  his  face.  A 
stranger  in  a  strange  land,  keeping  the  flock  of  Jethro  on 
the  farther  outskirts  of  the  desert,  he  saw  a  bush,  like  Israel 
then  as  in  after  ages,  burning  with  fire  and  not  consumed — 
for  the  selfsame  reason,  because  the  Lord  was  there.  The 
time  was  come  for  Jacob’s  deliverance,  when  his  destruc¬ 
tion  was  threatened ;  and  the  voice  of  the  Lord,  who  is  a 
covenant-keeping  God,  was  uttered  again.  Turning  aside 
to  see  the  great  sight,  Moses  heard  the  voice  of  the  Lord 
calling  to  him,  “  Moses,  Moses.  And  the  Lord  said.  I  have 
surely  seen  the  affliction  of  my  people  which  are  in  Egypt, 
and  have  heard  their  cry  by  reason  of  their  taskmasters  ; 
for  I  know  their  sorrows,  and  am  come  down  to  deliver 
them  out  of  the  hands  of  the  Egyptians,  and  to  bring  them 
up  out  of  that  land,  unto  a  good  land  and  a  large,  unto  a 
land  jiowing  with  milk  and  honey  ;  unto  the  place  of  the  Ca- 
n'aanite,  and  the  Hittite,  and  the  Amorite,  and  the  Ferizzite, 
and  the  Jebusite.  Thus  shalt  thou  say  unto  the  children  of 
Israel,  I  j»M  (Jehovah)  hath  sent  me  unto  you.  The  Lord 
God  of  your  fathers,  the  God  of  Abraham^  the  God  of  Isaac, 

*  Exod.,  V.,  7.  t  Gen.,  w.,  13-18. 


CONCERNING  THE  LAND. 


27 


and  the  God  of  Jacob,  hath  sent  me  unto  you  ;  this  is  my 

NAME  FOREVER,  AND  MY  MEMORIAL  UNTO  ALL  GENERA¬ 
TIONS.”* 

The  Lord  did  begin  to  prove  the  truth  of  his  covenant  by 
putting  it  into  effect  against  all  the  resistance  of  Pharaoh 
and  that  of  all  their  enemies. 

When  the  King  of  Egypt  refused  to  let  the  people  go, 
and  yet  more  grievously  oppressed  them,  one  Divine  com¬ 
munication  followed  after  another,  more  rapidly  than  ever 
since  the  days  before  the  fall.  The  Lord  said  unto  Moses, 
“  Now  shalt  thou  see  what  I  will  do  to  Pharaoh :  I  am  the 
Lord.  And  I  appeared  unto  Abraham,  unto  Isaac,  and  unto 
Jacob,  by  the  name  of  God  Almighty,  but  by  my  name  Je¬ 
hovah  was  I  not  known  unto  them.  And  I  have  also  estab¬ 
lished  my  covenant  with  them,  to  give  them  the  land  of  Ca¬ 
naan,  the  land  of  their  pilgrimage,  wherein  they  were  stran¬ 
gers.  And  I  have  also  heard  the  groanings  of  the  children 
of  Israel,  whom  the  Egyptians  keep  in  bondage  ;  and  I  have 
remembered  my  covenant.  Wherefore  say  unto  the  children 
of  Israel,  I  am  the  Lord,  and  I  will  bring  you  out  from 
the  burdens  of  the  Egyptians,  and  I  will  rid  you  of  their 
bondage  ;  and  I  will  take  you  to  me  for  a  people,  and  I  will 
be  to  you  a  God.  And  I  will  bring  you  into  the  land,  con¬ 
cerning  the  which  I  did  swear  to  give  it  to  Abraham,  to  Isaac, 
and  to  Jacob,  and  I  will  give  it  to  you  for  an  heritage  :  I  am 
the  Lord.”t 

Although,  in  maintaining  the  unchangeableness  and  invi¬ 
olability  of  that  covenant,  the  Lord  was  first  known  to  Isra¬ 
el  by  his  name  Jehovah,  the  self-existent  and  ever-living 
God,  the  Divine  right  of  the  seed  of  Israel  to  the  possession 
of  Canaan  may  now  be  a  startling  statement  in  the  ears  of 
those  who  have  not  perfectly  considered,  however  frequent¬ 
ly  they  may  have  read,  the  oft-repeated  covenant  of  the 
Lord,  and  the  oath  which  He  sware  to  Abraham,  to  Isaac, 
and  to  Jacob.  But  if  their  notions  come  short  of  absolute 
incredulity,  their  wavering  faith  is  stronger  than  that  of 
those  whose  groanings  God  heard  and  remembered  his  cov¬ 
enant;  but  who,  when  this  very  message  from  the  Lord 
was  told  them,  would  not,  after  the  first  disappointment  of 
their  hopes,  hearken  unto  Moses  for  anguish  of  spirit  and 
for  cruel  bondage.^ 

Abraham  was  a  stranger  in  the  land  of  Canaan.  There 

*  Exod.,  iii.,  1-15.  t  Ibid.,  vi.,  1-8.  i  Ibid.,  9. 


28 


THE  PERPETUITY  OF  THE  COVENANT 


for  three  generations  he  and  his  descendants  had  sojourned 
as  pilgrims.  The  possession  declared  to  be  everlasting 
not,  after  the  lapse  of  centuries,  been  once  entered  on  for  a 
single  day.  In  Egypt,  long  their  dwelling-place,  the  land 
of  Goshen,  though  once  held  in  free  tenure  from  the  king, 
had  been  turned  into  the  house  of  bondage.  Gathering 
stubble  in  the  fields,  and  beaten  for  a  fault  that  was  not 
theirs,*  they  looked  not  like  the  heirs  of  a  divinely-cove¬ 
nanted  inheritance  ;  and  when  their  hope  was  once  cast 
down,  and  their  burdens  increased  because  they  dared  to 
cherish  it,  their  hearts  were  crushed,  and  their  hope  was 
lost,  and  to  the  tidings  of  deliverance  they  would  not  listen. 

But  though  another  king  had  arisen  that  knew  not  Joseph, 
and  the  Egyptian  dynasty  had  been  changed,  the  same  un¬ 
changeable  Jehovah,  making  himself  known  by  that  name, 
declared  the  immutability  of  his  covenant  with  the  seed  of 
Jacob.  Their  cry  came  up  unto  God  by  reason  of  their  bond¬ 
age,  and  God  looked  upon  the  children  of  Israel,  and  had  re¬ 
spect  unto  them.f  And  when  their  oppression  was  increased 
beyond  endurance,  and  the  ordained  slaughter  of  each  male 
child  threatened  the  annihilation  of  their  race,  their  deliv¬ 
erance  was  signal  and  glorious  ;  and  whenever  the  word 
for  its  ratification  came  forth  from  their  God,  all  earthly 
power  was  tried  in  vain  to  prevent  or  to  suspend  the  exe¬ 
cution  of  the  covenant. 

Because  Pharaoh  would  not  let  the  people  go,  miracle 
after  miracle  brought  plague  upon  plague,  till  the  last  hour 
had  come  in  which  the  children  of  Israel  were  to  remain  in 
Egypt.  At  midnight  the  Lord  smote  the  first-born  in  every 
family  of  the  Egyptians  ;  and  the  hardened  heart  of  the 
king  being  humbled  at  last,  he  was  constrained  to  urge  them 
to  depart,  at  the  very  moment  when  they  were  equipped  for 
their  journey When,  again  infatuated  to  pursue  them, 
his  horse,  and  chariots,  and  horsemen  were  entombed  in  the 
Red  Sea,  while  Israel  passed  over  on  dry  ground,  the  wa¬ 
ters  being  a  wall  to  them  on  the  right  hand  and  on  the  left,^ 
the  Lord,  triumphing  gloriously,  redeemed  the  seed  of  Ja¬ 
cob  with  a  strong  hand,  and  a  stretched-out  arm,  and  with 
great  judgments  and  fury  poured  forth  upon  their  enemies. 

The  Lord  is  not  slack  concerning  his  promise,  as  some 
men  count  slackness.  His  covenant  with  Israel  could  not 
fail.  Rather  should  the  Red  Sea  be  a  pathway  for  hundreds 

*  Exod.,  V.,  12-17.  t  Ib.,  ii.,  25.  t  Ib.,  xii.,  31.  ^  Ib.,  xiv.,  22,  28,  29. 


CONCERNING  THE  LAND. 


29 


of  thousands  to  pass  over  dry-shod — rather  should  manna,  as 
from  heaven,  fall  down  daily  in  abundance  for  them  all,  and 
the  stream  flow  from  the  flinty  rock — rather  should  a  pillar 
of  cloud  by  day,  and  a  pillar  of  fire  by  night,  guide  them  on 
their  way — rather  should  the  waters  of  Jordan  fly  back  be¬ 
fore  the  feet  of  those  who  bore  the  ark  of  the  covenant,  and 
the  walls  of  Jericho  fall  down  at  the  blast  of  the  smallest 
horns,  than  the  Lord  should  not  plant  his  people  in  the  land 
which  He  had  promised  to  give  to  Abraham,  to  Isaac,  and 
to  Jacob,  and  to  their  seed  forever.  Nay,  rather  should  the 
sun  and  the  moon  stand  still,  as  his  witnesses  in  the  heav¬ 
ens,  at  the  commandment  of  a  man  who  was  steadfast  in  the 
covenant  of  the  Lord,  and  led  the  Israelites  into  Canaan, 
than  the  word  of  the  Eternal  fail  in  driving  out  their  ene¬ 
mies  before  them. 

SECTION  11. 

But  God  is  not  a  respecter  of  persons  ;  and  merciful  and 
gracious  as  He  is,  yet  He  will  by  no  means  clear  the  guil¬ 
ty,  Known  to  the  Israelites  as  the  God  of  Abraham,  of 
Isaac,  and  of  Jacob — as  the  Almighty,  and  as  Jehovah — He 
made  himself  known  to  them  also  as  the  Holy  One  of  Isra¬ 
el ;  and  He  chose  them  unto  himself  for  a  peculiar  and  a 
holy  people.  He  entered  into  a  covenant  with  //tm,  ivhen 
He  brought  them  out  of  the  land  of  Egypt.  The  law  was 
then  given  them  ;  and  life  and  death  were  set  before  them. 
The  words  of  the  covenaiit — the  ten  coinmandments — were 
written  on  tables  of  stone  by  the  finger  of  the  Lord  ;  and 
after  the  tenour  of  these  words  He  made  a  covenant  with  Is¬ 
rael.*' 

Sin  can  have  no  fellowship  with  God  ;  He  is  angry  with 
the  wicked  every  day  ;  and  sinners,  as  such,  cannot  enter 
into  covenant  or  communion  with  Him.  A  sinner,  however, 
like  all  other  men,  Abraham  was  ;  and  even  when  the  Lord 
had  made  and  confirmed  his  covenant  with  him,  he  confess¬ 
ed  that  he  was  but  dust  and  ashes  in  his  sight. f  But  he 
believed  in  the  Lord,  and  He  cou7ited  it  to  him  for  righteous¬ 
ness.  His  faith  was  shown  by  his  obedience  to  the  voice 
of  the  Lord,  even  till  his  hand  was  lifted  up  to  sacrifice  his 
beloved  son,  the  very  heir  of  promise.  The  covenant  con¬ 
cerning  the  land  was  made  with  believing  men.  They  be¬ 
lieved  in  a  righteousness  not  their  own  ;  they  saw  the  day 

,  *  Exod.,  xxxiv.,  27.  t  Gen.,  xviii.,  27. 

C  2 


30 


THE  PERPETUITY  OF  THE  COVENANT 


of  Christ  afar  off,  and  were  glad  ;  and  the  covenant  between 
God  and  them  was  gracious  and  everlasting,  and  bears  its 
token  in  all  generations  of  their  race.  But,  even  under  the 
Old  Testament  dispensation,  circumcision  became  as  uncir¬ 
cumcision,  and  availed  nothing,  if,  with  uncircumcised  hearts^ 
they  were  not  the  children  of  faithful  Abraham.  An  Isra¬ 
elite  according  to  the  flesh  alone  had  no  right  to  the  inher¬ 
itance  of  the  land,  if  faith  was  wanting. 

Of  this  their  earliest  history  supplies  an  obvious  illustra¬ 
tion,  a  fearful  “  example  of  unbelief,”  in  the  multitudes  that 
were  brought  out  of  Egypt,  and  were  led  to  the  very  bor¬ 
ders  of  the  promised  land,  and  were  commanded  to  enter  it ; 
but  who,  fearful  of  their  enemies,  and  distrusting  the  power 
and  disbelieving  the  promises  of  God,  “  could  not  enter  in 
because  of  unbelief.”*  “  How  long  will  this  'people  provoke 
me  7  how  long  will  it  be  ere  they  believe  me  7  for  all  the  signs 
which  I  have  shown  them,  said  the  Lord.”f  He  threaten¬ 
ed  to  disinherit  them,  and  in  their  stead  to  make  of  Moses  a 
greater  and  mightier  nation  than  they.  But,  jealous  for  the 
glory  of  the  Lord,  their  magnanimous  leader,  regardless  of 
the  promised  exaltation  of  his  own  house,  pleaded  fervently 
for  Israel,  that  the  name  of  their  God  might  not  be  blasphe¬ 
med  by  the  Egyptians  and  other  nations.  “  They  will  say,” 
said  Moses,  “  that  the  Lord  was  not  able  to  bring  this  peo¬ 
ple  into  the  land  which  He  sware  unto  them,  therefore  He 
hath  slain  them  in  the  wilderness.”  “  And  the  Lord  said, 
I  have  pardoned  according  to  thy  word  ;  but  as  truly  as  I 
live,  all  the  earth  shall  be  filled  with  the  glory  of  the  Lord ; 
but  because  these  men  have  not  hearkened  unto  ray  voice, 
surely  they  shall  not  see  the  land  which  I  sware  unto  their  fa¬ 
thers  ;  to-morrow  turn  you,  and  get  you  into  the  wilder¬ 
ness  There,  according  to  his  word,  that  unbelieving  and 
evil  generation  fell.  And  not  till  all  above  twenty  years 
old,  who  had  come  out  of  Egypt — save  Caleb  and  Joshua, 
who  had  another  spirit  in  them — had  perished  there,  did  Is- 
rael,  when  another  generation  had  arisen,  enter  into  Ca¬ 
naan. 

A  most  striking  and  instructive  illustration  is  thus  pre¬ 
sented,  in  the  very  beginning  of  their  national  history,  of 
the  fact  that  their  unbelief  could  not  make  void  the  prom¬ 
ises  of  God  to  their  fathers  ;  and  that  their  breakinor  of  the 
covenant  made  with  them  could  not  annul  the  covenant  with 

*  Heb.,  iii.,  14.  t  Num.,  xiv.,  11,  12.  i  Ibid.,  15,  16,  21-25. 


CONCERNING  THE  LAND. 


31 


Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob,  which  the  Lord  confirmed  as 
everlasting,  centuries  before  the  law  was  given  by  Moses. 
The  whole  nation  might  have  been  disinheriled^  as  threat¬ 
ened,  and  slain  as  one  man ;  but  God,  as  He  declared,  would 
have  made,  even  of  a  single  individual  left  in  Israel,  a  great¬ 
er  and  mightier  nation,  in  whom  He  would  fulfil  his  prom¬ 
ises.  An  unbelieving  generation  did  perish  in  the  wilder¬ 
ness,  and  yet  the  Lord,  in  contradiction  of  the  averment  of 
the  heathen,  did  bring  his  people  into  the  land  which  He 
sware  unto  them.  Whatever  might  seem  to  frustrate  the 
covenant  with  Abraham  ;  whatever,  in  the  wisdom  of  this 
world,  which  is  foolishness  with  God,  might  seem  in  human 
view  to  annul  and  to  annihilate  it,  by  rendering  its  execu¬ 
tion  apparently  impossible  ;  still,  as  truly  as  the  Lord  liveth 
— and  his  name  Jehovah  tells  that  He  is  the  ever-living 
God — his  covenant  should  stand  fast  as  his  very  being  ; 
and,  neither  mutilated  nor  marred,  either  by  the  unbelief  of 
his  people  for  a  season,  however  long,  or  by  the  blasphe¬ 
mies  of  the  heathen,  whatever  hard  speeches  they  might  utter 
against  Him,  it  would  be  established  at  last,  in  very  faith¬ 
fulness,  as  at  first  He  had  confirmed  it  bv  his  oath.  Hath 
He  said  ?  hath  He  sworn?  a7id  shall  He  not  do  it?  Assu¬ 
redly  the  promises  to  the  fathers  shall  be  fulfilled,  and  the 
everlasting  possession  of  the  land  by  the  seed  of  Abraham 
shall  be  conjoined  with  the  simultaneously  promised  bless¬ 
ing  to  all  the  families  of  the  earth.  For  then,  and  not  till 
then,  in  that  glorious  consummation  alone,  shall  these  words 
be  true,  which,  swearing  by  himself,  as  He  could  not  sivear 
by  a  greater,  the  Lord  spake  at  the  very  time  when  even 
Moses  feared  that  his  name  would  be  blasphemed,  and  his 
power  derided,  if  his  people  should  perish  in  the  wilderness : 

“As  TRULY  AS  I  LIVE,  ALL  THE  EARTH  SHALL  BE  FILLED 
WITH  THE  GLORY  OF  THE  LoRD.  To-morrow,  tum  ye,  and 
get  ye  into  the  wilderness P  Whatever  the  nations  might  say, 
or  whatever  the  Israelites  might  do,  the  Lord  himself  would 
see  to  the  execution  of  his  covenant  in  all  its  parts  ;  into 
his  own  hand  He  had  taken  it;  and  it  rested  with  Him, 
and  with  Him  alone,  that  the  unbelief  of  the  Jews  and  the 
ungodliness  of  the  nations  should  finally  everywhere  cease  ; 
and  that  not  even  one  word  should  fall  from  the  covenant 
any  more  than  from  the  law,  till  all  the  earth  should  be  fill- 
ed  with  his  glory,  and  see  and  acknowledge  that  the  Holy 
One  of  Israel  is  the  Lord,  with  whom  all  things  are  possi* 


32 


THE  PERPETUITY  OF  THE  COVENANT 


ble.  The  whole  earth  itself  is  the  witness  to  this  hour  that 
the  time  is  not  yet :  none,  but  worse  than  Egyptian  blas¬ 
phemers,  can  say  that  it  never  shall  be,  for  the  promise  is 
as  true  as  the  Lord  Hveth. 

Another,  illustration  here  arises,  plain  and  palpable  in  the 
sight  of  all  believers  in  Moses,  and  in  the  history  of  which 
he  was  the  sacred  penman ;  a  truth  which  is  also  confirm¬ 
ed  as  clearly  at  every  step  in  all  the  progress  of  Israelitish 
history,  as  the  apostle  hath  declared  it — the  law  makes  no¬ 
thing  perfect."^  Luminous  as  this  is  in  the  eye  of  faith,  it 
is  a  hard  saying  to  those  sinners  of  the  Gentiles,  who,  like 
the  Jews  in  many  generations,  bearing  everywhere  the  cur¬ 
ses  of  that  covenant,  go  about  to  establish  a  righteousness 
of  their  own.  The  fact  stands  out  most  prominently  in 
Jewish  history,  and  forms  its  commencement.  In  the  very 
first  year  after  the  law  was  given,  the  children  of  Israel,  re¬ 
leased  from  bondage  and  first  united  as  a  people,  could  not, 
notwithstanding  the  promise,  enter  into  Canaan.  The 
whole  nation  had  broken  it.  From  the  sin  of  unbelief  it. 
could  not  save  them.  And  the  God  of  their  fathers,  at  the 
very  time  his  promises  would  otherwise  have  been  fulfilled, 
threatened  to  smite  them  with  pestilence,  and  to  disinherit 
them  ;  and  Moses,  by  whom  the  law  was  given,  prayed  that 
the  whole  nation  might  not  be  killed  as  one  man,  because 
of  their  transgressions  and  unfaithfulness  in  the  covenant 
made  under  the  law.  They  were  commanded  back  from 
the  borders  of  Canaan  to  die  in  the  wilderness.  But  while 
the  law  condemned  them,  the  covenant  with  their  fathers 
stood  ;  and  therefore,  as  in  ages  after,  Israel  was  not  wholly 
consumed. 

Unlike  to  that  unconditional  covenant  which  God  made 
with  Abraham,  and  which  He  will  doubtless  fulfil  to  the 
praise  of  the  glory  of  his  grace,  the  covenant  which  He 
made,  and  repeatedly  renewed  with  the  Israelites  under  the 
law,  was  coupled  with  the  most  express  conditions,  on  the 
breach  of  which  fearful  judgments  were  denounced.  And 
the  blessings  and  the  curses,  which  pertained  to  this  cove¬ 
nant,  according  to  their  obedience  or  disobedience,  were  set 
before  them,  and  read  in  the  hearing  of  all  the  people,  both 
before  and  after  they  entered  the  land  promised  to  their 
fathers. 

“This  day,”  said  Moses,  “the  Lord  thy  God  hath  com- 

*  Heb. ,  vii.,  19. 


CONCERNING  THE  LAND. 


33 


manded  thee  to  do  these  statutes  and  judgments  ;  thou  shalt 
therefore  keep  and  do  them  with  all  thy  heart  and  all  thy 
soul.  Thou  hast  avouched  the  Lord  to  be  thy  God,  and  to 
walk  in  his  ways,  and  to  keep  his  statutes,  and  his  com¬ 
mandments,  and  his  judgments,  and  to  hearken  to  his  voice  ; 
and  the  Lord  hath  avouched  thee  this  day  to  be  his  pe¬ 
culiar  people,  as  He  hath  promised  thee,  and  that  thou 
shouldst  keep  all  his  commandments  ;  and  to  make  thee  high 
above  all  nations  which  He  hath  made,  in  praise,  and  in 
name,  and  in  honour  ;  if  that  thou  mayest  be  a  holy  people 
unto  the  Lord  thy  God,  as  He  hath  spoken.”"^  Ye  stand 
all  of  you  this  day  before  the  Lord  your  God,  your  captains 
of  your  tribes,  your  elders,  and  your  officers,  with  all  the 
men  of  Israel,  that  thou  shouldst  enter  into  covenant  with 
the  Lord  thy  God,  and  with  his  oath  which  the  Lord  thy  God 
maketh  with  thee  this  day,  that  He  may  establish  thee  to-day 
for  a  people  unto  himself,  and  that  He  may  be  unto  thee  a 
God,  as  He  hath  said  unto  thee,  and  as  He  hath  sworn  unto 
thy  fathers,  to  Abraham,  to  Isaac,  and  to  Jacob  ;  neither 
with  you  only  do  I  make  this  covenant  and  this  oath,  but 
with  him  that  standeth  before  the  Lord  thy  God,  and  also 
with  him  that  is  not  here  with  us  this  day,  lest  there  be 
among  you  man,  or  woman,  or  family,  or  tribe  whose  heart 
turneth  away  this  day  from  the  Lord  our  God,  &c.  The 
Lord  will  not  spare  him,  but  then  the  anger  of  the  Lord  and 
his  jealousy  shall  smoke  against  that  man,  and  all  the  cur¬ 
ses  that  are  written  in  this  book  shall  lie  upon  him,  and  the 
Lord  shall  blot  out  his  name  from  under  heaven,  and  the 
Lord  shall  separate  him  unto  evil  out  of  all  the  tribes  of  Is¬ 
rael,  according  to  all  the  curses  that  are  written  in  this  hook 
of  the  law  :  so  that  the  generations  to  come  of  your  children 
that  shall  rise  up  after  you,  and  the  stranger  that  shall  come 
from  a  far  land,  shall  say,  when  they  see  the  plagues  of 
that  land,  and  the  sickness  that  the  Lord  hath  laid  upon  it, 
Wherefore  hath  the  Lord  done  this  unto  this  land  ?  what 
meaneth  the  heat  of  this  great  anger  ?  Then  men  shall 
say.  Because  they  have  forsaken  the  covenant  of  the  Lord 
God  of  their  fathers,  which  He  made  with  them  when  He 
brought  them  forth  out  of  the  land  of  Egypt :  and  the  anger 
of  the  Lord  was  kindled  against  this  land  to  bring  upon  it 
ail  the  curses  that  are  written  in  this  book.f 

Such  is  the  tenour  of  the  covenant  made  with  the  Israel- 


*  Deut.,  xxvii.,  16-19. 


t  Ibid.,  xxix.,  10-25. 


34 


THE  PERPETUITY  OF  THE  COVENANT 


iles  when  they  came  out  of  Egypt,  and  before  they  entered  into 
Canaan.  After  their  entrance  into  the  promised  land,  it  was 
renewed  by  Joshua,  and  again  before  his  death  ;  and  in  his 
last  words  he  said  unto  the  people,  “Ye  are  witnesses 
against  yourselves  that  ye  have  chosen  the  Lord  to  serve 
Him  ;  and  they  said.  We  are  witnesses  :  the  Lord  our  God 
will  we  serve,  and  his  voice  will  we  obey.  So  Joshua 
made  a  covenant  with  the  people  that  day.”*  These  were 
all  but  several  renewals  of  the  covenant  which  the  Lord 
made  with  Israel  on  the  day  when  He  brought  them  out  of 
Egypt,  and  when  the  law  was  given  by  Moses. 

Greatly  does  this  covenant  differ,  as  it  is  thus  manifestly 
distinct,  from  that  made  by  the  Lord  with  Abraham,  and 
with  Isaac,  and  with  Jacob.  That  covenant  was  full  of 
promises  and  blessings  alone,  the  final  and  full  completion 
of  which  the»Lord  took  into  his  own  hands,  and  ratified  by 
his  own  oath ;  this  had  conditions  annexed  to  it,  the  breach 
of  which,  on  the  part  of  the  children  of  Israel,  would  bring 
on  them  all  the  curses  of  the  covenant.  The  one  was  made 
with  men  of  faith,  who  were  thus  accounted  righteous  before 
the  Lord  ;  the  other  was  made  after  the  tenour  of  the  words 
of  the  law,  by  which  no  sinful  mortal  can  be  justified  in  his 
sight.  The  one  gave  unreservedly  to  the  seed  of  Jacob  a 
large  and  goodly  land  for  an  everlasting  possession  ;  the  oth¬ 
er  conveyed  only  a  conditional  tenure  of  the  land,  and  point¬ 
ed,  as  with  the  finger  of  the  Lord,  to  the  tribes  of  Israel  root¬ 
ed  out  of  their  inheritance,  and  scattered  among  all  the  na¬ 
tions  of  the  earth,  while  the  curses  of  a  broken  covenant 
also  rested  on  their  blasted  heritage.  The  first  conferred 
on  the  seed  of  Jacob  the  blessed  privilege  of  being  a  bless¬ 
ing  to  all  the  families  of  the  earth ;  the  other  denounced 
against  transgressors  the  blotting  out  of  their  name  from  un¬ 
der  heaven. 

If  a  distinction  be  not  made  between  one  covenant,  rest¬ 
ing  securely  on  the  faithfulness  of  God,  and  another  sus¬ 
pended  tremblingly  on  the  obedience  of  man,  it  is  not  to  be 
wondered  at  that  doubts  should  be  cast  by  thousands  on  the 
restoration  of  Israel,  and  the  fulfilment  of  the  promises  of 
God  to  the  fathers.  But  if  things  that  so  essentially  differ 
be  distinguished,  and  the  one  covenant  be  not  confounded 
with  the  other,  that  concerning  which  God  lifted  up  his 
hand  to  Abraham,  and  to  Isaac,  and  to  Jacob,  will  be  seen 

*  Joshua,  xxiv.,  22,  <S:c. 


CONCERNING  THE  LAND. 


35 


to  stand  entire  as  at  the  beginning  in  all  its  indiminishable 
force,  and  to  shine  forth  as  a  lamp  lighted  from  heaven  in 
all  its  bright,  unalterable  truth,  even  as  the  other  has  been 
confirmed  in  the  desolation  of  Judea,  and  the  dispersion  of 
the  Jews  to  this  day.  If  the  first  had  been  like  unto  the 
second,  with  such  conditions  and  “  curses”  annexed  to  it, 
the  signs  of  its  confirmation  might  have  been,  not  a  smoking 
furnace,  but  a  consuming  fire ;  not  a  burning  lamp,  but  a 
flickering  gleam. 

If  the  Israelites  had  been  steadfast  in  the  covenant  which 
the  Lord  made  with  them  when  He  brought  them  out  of  the 
land  of  Egypt,  then  the  covenant  would  have  been  fulfilled 
to  them,  in  ages  past,  which  He  made  with  the  faithful  pa¬ 
triarchs  when  they  were  wanderers  in  Canaan.  But,  faith¬ 
less  as  they  were,  another,  a  new,  and  an  everlasting  cove¬ 
nant  has  yet  to  be  entered  into  with  them ;  and  under  it 
alone,  and  not  under  a  broken  covenant  and  a  broken  law, 
can  they  ever  retain,  though  they  may  regain,  possession 
of  their  fatherland,  or  ever  inherit  it  in  the  full  extent,  as 
given  to  Abraham,  and  Isaac,  and  Jacob,  and  to  their  seed 
forever.  Not  a  jot  or  tittle  has  fallen  or  can  fall  from  the 
law,  as  the  Lord  has  shown,  and  will  yet  show,  by  aven¬ 
ging  the  quarrel  of  his  covenant,  which  He  made  with  the 
Israelites  when  He  brought  them  out  of  the  land  of  Egypt; 
and  not  a  jot  or  tittle  can  fail  of  the  better  covenant,  con¬ 
firmed  as  everlasting,  and  which  can  never  be  annulled. 

Most  clearly  does  Paul,  the  apostle  to  the  Gentiles,  or, 
rather,  the  Spirit  of  truth  by  which  he  speaks,  distinguish 
between  the  covenant  made  with  Abraham  and  that  which 
the  Lord  made  with  the  Israelites  under  the  law. 

In  addressing  “the  foolish  Galatians”  concerning  one  of 
the  covenanted  promises  to  Abraham,  he  thus  speaks,  in 
reason  as  in  faith  :  “  This  I  say,  that  the  covenant  which 
was  confirmed  before  of  God  in  Christ,  the  law  which  was 
four  hundred  and  thirty  years  after,  cannot  annul,  that  it 
should  make  the  promise  of  none  effect.  For  if  the  inher¬ 
itance  be  of  the  law,  it  is  no  more  of  promise  :  but  God 
gave  it  to  Abraham  by  promised* 

The  same  distinction  is  maintained  by  all  the  prophets. 
And  throughout  the  history  of  the  Israelites  of  old,  whether 
prophetic  or  actual,  even  while  the  curses  of  the  covenant 
which  the  Lord  made  with  them  when  He  brought  thern 

*  Gal.,  iii.,  17, 18. 


36 


THE  PERPETUITY  OF  THE  COVENANT 


out  of  Egypt,  and  which  they  broke,  fell  most  heavily  upon 
them,  the  immutability  of  the  promises  to  Abraham  were 
ever  declared  anew.  And  express  provision  was  made  by 
the  Lord,  as  declared  in  his  word,  for  the  perpetuity  of  that 
covenant  in  the  fulness  of  its  blessing,  however  distant  the 
time  of  its  completion. 

Heaven  and  earth  were  called  to  witness  against  the 
children  of  Israel,  that  if  they  did  evil  in  his  sight,  they 
would  utterly  perish  from  off  the  land  which  He  had  given 
them  ;  and  the  Lord  would  scatter  them  among  all  nations, 
even  among  all  people,  from  the  one  end  of  the  earth  unto 
the  other.  But,  notwithstanding  this,  however  much  they 
should  denude  themselves  of  all  right,  on  their  part,  to  the 
possession  of  the  land,  and  exclude  themselves,  by  their 
sins  and  their  impenitence,  from  the  covenanted  blessings  of 
their  fathers’  God,  and  therefore  certainly  bring  upon  their 
own  heads,  in  all  their  fulness  and  in  all  their  terribleness, 
age  after  age,  in  every  country  under  heaven,  all  the  judg¬ 
ments  denounced  against  them,  such  as  the  heathen  had  not 
known,  even  all  the  curses  of  the  covenant ;  whatever  might 
be  the  degree  of  their  iniquity,  or  the  duration  of  their  mis¬ 
eries,  while  their  multiplied  transgressions  should  meet  with 
sevenfold  punishments  ;  however  severely  the  Lord  would 
punish  them,  and  however  long  his  hand  might  be  stretched 
out  against  them,  till  his  anger  should  be  turned  away,  yet 
He  would  not  abhor  them  to  destroy  them  utterly  as  a  peo¬ 
ple  ;  and  no  sin  of  theirs  could  ever  annul  the  covenant 
concerning  which  He  had  lifted  up  his  hand  to  their  fathers. 
They  might  forget  it,  but  the  Lord  would  remember  it  still. 
Scattered  as  they  should  be  among  all  people  from  the  one 
end  of  the  earth  unto  the  other,  and  set  for  evil  and  not  for 
good,  as  the  eyes  of  the  Lord  should  be  everywhere  upon 
them  during  all  the  ages  of  their  unfaithfulness  and  impen¬ 
itence,  yet  hath  the  Lord  never  said  to  any  of  the  seed  of 
Jacob,  Seek  ye  m}'  face  in  vain.  And  long  prior  in  time 
as  the  promises  to  the  fathers  w'ere,  before  the  giving  of  the 
law,  so,  when  all  the  curses  of  their  own  broken  covenant 
shall  have  passed  over  them,  that  with  Abraham  should  be 
remembered,  and  remain  the  everlasting  covenant  of  un¬ 
changeable  Jehovah.  Ere,  in  his  faithfulness.  He  first 
planted  them  in  Canaan,  and  warned  them  that  if  they  kept 
not  the  covenant  which  He  made  with  them  then,  they 
should  not  only  cease  to  possess  the  land  of  their  inherit- 


CONCERNING  THE  LAND. 


37 


ance,  but  seek  in  vain,  throughout  all  the  earth,  a  place 
whereon  the  sole  of  their  feet  could  hnd  rest — these  were 
still  the  words  of  the  same  God  who  had  called  Abraham 
from  Ur  of  the  Chaldees. 

“If  they  shall  confess  their  iniquity,  and  the  iniquity  of 
their  fathers,  with  their  trespass  which  they  trespassed 
against  me,  and  also  that  they  have  walked  contrary  to  me, 
and  that  I  also  have  walked  contrary  to  them,  and  have 
brought  them  into  the  land  of  their  enemies  ;  if  then  their 
uncircumcised  hearts  be  humbled,  and  they  then  accept  of 
the  punishment  of  their  iniquity,  then  will  I  remember  my 
covenant  with  Jacob,  and  also  my  covenant  with  Israel,  and 
also  my  covenant  with  Abraham  will  I  remember,  and  I  will 
remember  the  land.  The  land  also  shall  be  left  of  them,  and 
shall  enjoy  her  Sabbaths  (rest),  while  she  lieth  desolate 
without  them  ;  and  they  shall  accept  of  the  punishment  of 
their  iniquity,  because,  even  because  they  despised  my 
judgments,  and  because  their  soul  abhorred  my  statutes. 
And  yet  for  all  that,  when  they  be  in  the  land  of  their  ene¬ 
mies  I  will  not  cast  them  away,  neither  will  I  abhor  them 
to  destroy  them  utterly,  and  to  break  my  covenant  with  them, 
for  I  am  the  Lord  their  God.  But  I  will  for  their  sakes  re¬ 
member  the  covenant  of  their  ancestors,  whom  I  brought 
, forth  out  of  the  land  of  Egypt,  in  the  sight  of  the  heathen, 
that  I  might  be  their  God  :  1  am  the  Lord.”*  “  When  all 
these  things  are  come  upon  you,  even  in  the  latter  days,  if 
thou  turn  to  the  Lord  thy  God,  and  shall  be  obedient  to  his 
voice  (for  the  Lord  thy  God  is  a  merciful  God),  He  will 
not  forsake  thee,  neither  destroy  thee,  nor  forget  the  cove¬ 
nant  of  thy  fathers  which  He  sware  unto  them.'’A 

“  And  it  shall  come  to  pass,  when  all  these  things  are 
come  upon  thee,  the  blessing  and  the  curse  which  1  have 
set  before  thee,  and  thou  shalt  call  them  to  mind  among  all 
the  nations  whither  the  Lord  thy  God  hath  driven  thee,  and 
shalt  return  unto  the  Lord  thy  God,  and  shalt  obey  his  voice 
according  to  all  that  I  command  thee  this  day,  thou  and  thy 
children,  with  all  thy  heart,  and  with  all  thy  soul,  that  then 
the  Lord  thy  God  will  turn  thy  captivity,  and  have  com¬ 
passion  upon  thee,  and  will  return  and  gather  thee  from  all 
nations  whither  the  Lord  thy  God  hath  scattered  thee.  If 
any  of  thine  be  driven  out  into  the  outmost  parts  of  heaven, 
from  thence  will  the  Lord  thy  God  gather  thee,  and  from 

*  Levit.  xivi.,  40-45.  t  Deut. ,  iv.,  30,  31. 


D 


38 


THE  PERPETUITY  OF  THE  COVENANT 


thence  will  He  fetch  thee  :  and  the  Lord  thy  God  will  bring 
thee  into  the  land  which  thy  fathers  possessed^  and  thou  shall 
possess  it;  and  He  will  do  thee  good,  and  multiply  thee  above 
thy  fathers.  And  the  Lord  thy  God  will  circumcise  thy 
heart,  and  the  heart  of  thy  seed,  to  love  the  Lord  thy  God 
with  all  thy  heart,  and  with  all  thy  soul,  that  thou  mayest 
live.  And  the  Lord  thy  God  will  put  all  these  curses  upon 
thine  enemies,  and  on  them  that  hate  thee,  which  persecu¬ 
ted  thee.  And  thou  shall  return  and  obey  the  voice  of  the 
Lord,  and  do  all  his  commandments  which  I  command  thee 
this  day.  And  the  Lord  thy  God  shall  make  thee  plenteous 
in  every  work  of  thy  hand,  and  in  the  fruit  of  thy  land  for 
good ;  for  the  Lord  will  again  rejoice  over  thee  for  good,  as 
He  rejoiced  over  thy  fathers — if  thou  shall  hearken  to  his 
voice.”*  “  I  call  heaven  and  earth  to  record  against  thee 
this  day,  that  I  have  set  before  you  life  and  death,  blessing 
and  cursing;  therefore  choose  life,  that  thou  mayest  dwell 
in  the  land  which  the  Lord  sware  unto  thy  fathers,  to 
Abraham,  to  Isaac,  and  to  Jacob,  to  give  themJ\ 

The  covenant  of  God  with  the  fathers  concerning  the  land 
was  thus  to  stand  forever  unrepealed,  and  the  promises  to 
them  would  survive  all  the  curses  of  that  covenant  which 
was  made  with  the  Israelites  when  they  came  out  of  Egypt. 
Scattered  as  they  have  been  unto  the  uttermost  parts  of  the  • 
earth,  and  come  upon  them  as  the  curses  of  the  covenant 
have — resting  on  them  till  they  return  unto  their  God,  and 
upon  their  land  till  they  be  brought  back  to  it — yet  for  all 
that,  the  covenant  of  the  Lord  is  as  fresh  in  his  remembrance 
as  when  He  first  brought  their  ancestors  out  of  the  land  of 
Egypt. 

But,  now  as  then,  the  very  promises  annexed  to  a  covenant 
made  under  the  law,  in  conformity  with  the  better  and  prior 
covenant,  necessarily  and  expressly  involve  the  condition  of 
perfect  obedience,  which,  were  it  but  for  them  alone,  could 
never  be  fulfilled.  And  if  the  first  covenant  with  the  Isra¬ 
elites  had  been  the  last,  it  would  not  have  been  for  man  or 
angel  to  tell  how  the  holy  law  of  the  Lord  could  have  been 
vindicated,  and  the  oath  of  the  Lord  have  been  performed. 

The  law  does  indeed  seem  to  interpose  a  barrier  to  the 
completion  of  the  promise.  Exacting  just  vengeance  on  a 
faithless  race,  it  drove  them  from  the  borders  of  the  land 
when  first  they  approached  it.  When  they  entered  Canaan, 

*  Deut.,  XXX.,  1-10.  t  Ibid.,  ver.  19,  20. 


CONCERNING  THE  LAND. 


39 


it  soon  stayed  their  progress,  and  kept  many  an  enemy  within 
their  borders,  to  harass  them  in  every  age.  With  sevenfold 
severity  it  inflicted  punishment  after  punishment,  and  brought, 
at  last,  in  guardianship  of  the  covenant  made  under  it,  as  the 
avenger  of  its  quarrel,  the  mightiest  nation  of  the  earth  to 
root  out  the  last  remnant  of  Israel  from  the  land  of  their  in¬ 
heritance,  iciih  wrathy  and  anger,  and  great  indignation,'^ 
and  with  all  the  unequalled  miseries  of  the  siege,  and  sack, 
and  destruction  of  Jerusalem. 

But  God  did  not  call  Abraham,  and  make  Jacob  faithful, 
and  then  promise  by  an  oath  to  believing  men  that  He  gave 
the  land  of  Canaan  to  be  the  everlasting  inheritance  of  their 
seed,  in  order  to  keep  them  forever  under  that  legal  cove¬ 
nant  by  which  they  could  claim  and  keep  the  land  only  in 
virtue  of  a  righteousness  of  their  own.  The  spirit  of  the 
Pharisees  has  not  yet  altogether  departed  from  Israel.  The 
traditions  of  men  have  more  weight  with  many  besides  them 
than  the  testimony  of  God.  But  we  cannot  pander  to  such 
a  spirit  by  closing  the  proof  of  the  restoration  of  Israel’s  in¬ 
heritance,  in  terms  of  that  covenant  which  was  coeval  with 
the  law.  Rather,  while  looking  to  it,  would  we  say  with 
Joshua,  even  when  the  most  faithful  generation  ever  in  Is¬ 
rael  heard  him,  “  Ye  cannot  serve  the  Lord  :  for  He  is  a 
holy  God  ;  He  is  a  jealous  God  ;  He  will  not  forgive  your 
transgressions  and  your  sins.  If  ye  forsake  the  Lord,  and 
serve  strange  gods,  then  He  will  turn  and  do  you  hurt,  and 
consume  you,  after  that  He  hath  done  you  good.”! 

The  Mosaic  covenant  did  indeed  point  to,  without  provi¬ 
ding  for,  thd^time  when  its  curses  would  be  no  more,  but  all 
the  promises  should  survive  them  in  blissful  completion. 

SECTION  III. 

For  the  full  understanding  of  the  promises  that  guaran¬ 
ty  the  everlasting  possession  of  their  inheritance  to  the 
seed  of  Israel,  not  only  many  things  that  differ  be  distin¬ 
guished,  and  the  oath  to  Abraham  be  kept  clear  of  the 
curses  of  another  covenant,  which  unbelieving  men,  not  the 
children  of /azM//// Abraham,  have  brought  upon  themselves 
age  after  age,  but  the  mutual  relations  of  things  that  assimi¬ 
late  and  are  destined  to  co-operate  in  the  one  glorious  con¬ 
summation  may  be  severally  marked.  The  means  are  here 
prepared  whereby  the  crooked  may  be  made  straight,  and 
the  rough  places  plain. 

*  Deut.,  xxix.,  28, 


f  Joshua,  xxiv.,  19  20. 


40 


THE  PERPETUITY  OF  THE  COVENANT 


Not  two  merely,  but  four  covenants  of  the  Lord  are  men¬ 
tioned  in  Scripture,  which  have  an  important  or  essential 
bearing  on  the  completion  of  the  promises  to  Abraham  con¬ 
cerning  the  land,  as  well  as  the  promised  blessing  to  all  the 
families  of  the  earth  in  his  seed.  Some  allusion  to  them  all 
may  be  needful  here,  before  adducing  the  farther  testimony 
of  the  Spirit,  as  recorded  by  David  and  the  succeeding 
prophets,  concerning  the  perpetuity  of  the  territorial  inherit¬ 
ance  of  the  seed  of  Israel. 

These  are,  1.  The  covenant  with  Abraham,  and  with 
Isaac,  and  with  Jacob,  which  is  one  and  the  same,  repeat¬ 
ed  and  confirmed  successively  to  them.  2.  The  covenant 
of  the  Lord  with  the  Israelites,  on  the  day  in  which  He 
brought  them  out  of  the  land  of  Egypt.  To  these,  already 
noticed,  are  added,  3.  The  covenant  with  David,  respecting 
the  establishment  of  his  house  and  of  his  throne  forever  ; 
and,  4.  The  new  and  everlasting  covenant  which  the  Lord 
will  make,  in  the  latter  days,  with  the  house  of  Israel  and 
with  the  house  of  Judah. 

Each  word,  as  well  as  each  covenant  of  the  living  God, 
is  a  law — an  irresistible  power,  which  must  fulfil  the  pur¬ 
pose  for  which  He  sent  it.  Like  the  laws  which  He  has 
given  to  physical  nature,  and  which  govern  it  all,  and  exist 
in  perfect  harmony,  as  manifested  in  the  movements  of  the 
orbs  of  heaven,  which  all  obey  his  voice,  so  these  covenants 
of  God  with  children  of  men,  in  their  combined  efficacy, 
under  the  sovereignty  of  his  grace  as  of  his  power,  have 
their  decreed  purpose  to  fulfil,  in  finally  evolving  an  analo¬ 
gous  harmony  in  the  moral  world  here  below,  •vhen  Israel 
shall  he  saved  in  the  Lord  with  an  everlasting  salvation,  and 
the  will  of  the  Lord  he  done  on  earth  as  it  is  in  heaven. 

Indiscriminately  commingled,  these  covenants,  in  the 
dimness  of  human  apprehension,  without  regarding  the  dis¬ 
tinctness  of  the  Divine  testimony,  have  sometimes  been 
considered  rather  as  conflicting  elements  that  jar  against 
each  other  when  brought  into  contact,  than  conspiring 
causes  whose  ultimate  result  is  the  salvation  of  Israel  and 
the  glory  of  Israel’s  God.  And  when  viewed  apart,  or 
looked  at  singly,  not  only  has  not  due  weight  been  assigned 
to  each  word  of  each  covenant,  but,  as  if  commentators  had 
been  handling  the  Koran  rather  than  the  Bible  the  latter 
has  been  made  to  explain  or  to  absorb  the  former,  and  the 
.ingenuity  of  Christians  has  been  exercised  in  attempting  to 


CONCERNING  THE  LAND. 


41 


accomplish  what  the  unbelief  of  the  Jews  could  not  effect, 
and  to  make  void  the  promises  of  God. 

The  blessed  consummation  which  it  is  designed  to. se¬ 
cure  would  not  indeed  be  seen,  were  the  covenant  of  God 
with  Abraham  limited  to  the  everlasting  possession  b}^  any 
race  of  mortals  of  any  land  on  earth.  But  jointly  with  the 
completion  of  the  promise  concerning  the  land  to  Israel  is 
that  of  the  extension  of  blessings  in  the  selfsame  covenant 

O 

to  all  the  families  of  the  earth;  and  instead  of  these  being 
repulsive  elements,  none  in  nature  can  have  a  closer  affinity 
than  those  must  ultimately  be  seen  to  bear  to  each  other, 
which  are  thus  joined  together  in  the  covenant  concerning 
which  the  God  of  nature  and  of  nations,  of  heaven  and  of 
earth,  has  lifted  up  his  hand,  and  SAvorn  to  as  everlasting. 
And  in  Christian  faith  it  may  be  asked.  What  shall  the  re¬ 
ceiving  of  them  be  but  life  from  the  dead? 

The  next  chapter  will  form  a  more  appropriate  place  for 
showing  that  the  Abrahamic  covenant  concerning  the  land 
has  never  yet  been  fully  completed,  even  in  regard  to  the 
extent  of  the  promised  possessioii.  Flow  far  it  should  have 
been  fulfilled,  or  how  long  it  should  have  borne  even  a  ves¬ 
tige  of  actual  fulfilment  among  the  Israelites  under  the  law, 
depended  on  the  observance  or  the  breach  of  the  special 
covenant  which  God  had  made  with  them.  It  had  no 
clause  bearing  a  blessing  to  all  nations  ;  nor  was  it  de¬ 
clared  to  be  everlasting.  But,  on  the  contrary,  its  curses, 
which  assigned  to  all  transgressors  their  merited  doom, 
were  sufficient  for  the  extermination  of  any  race  of  mortals, 
or  of  all  na^ons  upon  earth.  It  ever  cried  for  blood,  and 
Avrought  death  and  destruction,  even  as  it  exacted  perfect 
obedience  ;  and  said.  Cursed  is  every  one  that  continueth 
not  in  all  things  that  are  Avritten  in  the  book  of  the  law  to 
do  them.*  “  As  many  as  are  of  the  Avorks  of  the  law  are 
under  the  curse. ”t  And  looking  only  to  it,  and  to  its  curses 
resting  visibly  both  on  the  Jews  and  on  their  land,  the 
promise  might  well  seem  to  be  annulled,  except  on  condi¬ 
tions  sinful  mortals  could  not  fulfil,  and  the  hope  of  Israe^ 
to  be  cut  off  forever. 

But,  according  to  the  testimony  of  the  Old  1  estament 
and  the  doctrine  of  the  Nevv,  which  are  perfectly  accordant 
in  all  things,  that  coAmnant  made  with  the  Israelites  in  the 
day  when  the  Lord  brought  them  out  of  the  land  of  Egypt 

*  Deut.,  xxvii.,  26.  Jer.,  xi.,  3.  t  Galat.,  iii.,  10. 

D  2 


42 


THE  PERPETUITY  OF  THE  COVENANT 


was  not,  with  its  curses,  to  stand  forever,  but  has  to  be  su¬ 
perseded  by  a  new  and  everlasting  covenant  made  with  the 
same  people.  The  law  was  not  to  be  destroyed,  but  to  be 
fulfilled,  and  to  be  transferred  from  tables  of  stone  to  the 
fleshy  tablets  of  the  heart,  and  to  be  written  there  by  the 
same  finger  of  the  Lord. 

The  Apostle  Paul  maintains  the  immutalility  of  the  cove¬ 
nant  confirmed  by  an  oath  to  Abraham,  centuries  before  the 
law  was  given  by  Moses,  by  which,  therefore,  it  could  not 
he  annulled."^  He  speaks  as  explicitly,  quoting  the  testi¬ 
mony  of  the  Spirit  as  recorded  by  Jeremiah,  of  the  ceasing 
of  the  covenant  made  under  the  law,  as  finally  superseded 
by  another.  “  If  the  first  covenant  (with  the  Israelites) 
had  been  faultless,  then  should  no  place  have  been  sought 
for  the  second.  But,  finding  fault  with  them.  He  saith.  Be¬ 
hold,  the  days  come,  saith  the  Lord,  when  I  will  make  a 
new  covenant  with  the  house  of  Israel,  and  with  the  house 
of  Judah.  Not  according  to  the  covenant  that  I  made  with 
their  fathers  in  the  day  when  I  took  them  hy  the  hand  to  lead 
them  out  of  the  land  of  Egypt,  because  they  continued  not 
in  my  covenant,  and  I  regarded  them  not,  saith  the  Lord. 
For  this  is  the  covenant  that  I  will  make  with  the  house  of 
Israel :  After  these  days,  saith  the  Lord,  I  will  put  my  laws 
into  their  minds,  and  write  them  in  their  hearts ;  and  I  will 
be  to  them  a  God,  and  they  shall  be  to  me  a  people ;  and 
they  shall  not  teach  every  man  his  neighbour,  and  every 
man  his  brother,  saying.  Know  the  Lord :  for  they  shall  all 
know  me,  from  the  least  to  the  greatest.  For  I  will  be 
merciful  to  their  unrighteousness,  and  their  sins  and  their 
iniquities  wdll  I  remember  no  more.  In  that  He  saith  a 
new  covenant.  He  hath  made  the  first  old,  now  that  which 
decayeth  and  waxeth  old  is  ready  to  vanish  away.”t 

Amply  did  the  Lord  provide  for  the  accomplishment  of 
his  promises  to  the  fathers.  Though  the  “  curses  of  that 
covenant”  which  He  made  with  their  seed  have  driven  both 
Israelites  and  Jews,  long  distinct  from  each  other,  from  the 
land  of  their  inheritance,  He  will  make  a  new  and  everlast¬ 
ing  covenant  of  mercy  and  peace  with  the  house  of  Israel 
and  with  the  house  of  Judah.  Bearing  the  two  tables  of  the 
law,  the  ten  commandments,  written  on  stone,  their  hearts 
failed  them  for  fear  at  the  sight  of  their  enemies,  and  even 
at  the  tidings  of  their  strength.  The  curses  of  their  broken 
Gal.,  iii.,  17. 


t  Heb.,  viii.,  7-13.  Jer.,  xxxi.,  31,  &c. 


CONCERNING  THE  LAND. 


43 


covenant  followed  them  in  every  age,  rooted  them  out  of 
their  own  land,  and  have  everywhere  pursued  and  overtaken 
them,  and  have  been  upon  them  for  a  sign  and  for  a  wonder 
for  many  generations  in  every  country  under  heaven.  But 
after  these  days,  when  they  shall  bear  in  their  hearts  the 
law  of  their  God  according  to  his  own  everlasting  covenant 
of  mercy  and  of  peace,  and  when  they  all  shall  know  Him 
from  the  least  unto  the  greatest,  and  He  will  be  merciful  unto 
their  unrighteousness,  and  remember  their  sins  and  iniqui¬ 
ties  no  more,  then  the  curses  of  the  old  covenant,  itself  van¬ 
ished  away,  shall  no  longer  be  a  barrier  against  their  en¬ 
trance,  nor  a  hinderance  to  the  full  possession  and  final  re¬ 
tention  of  the  land  ;  nor  shall  they  in  any  way  interpose,  as 
heretofore,  to  retard  the  full  performance  of  the  oath  which 
the  Lord  sware  to  Abraham,  to  give  the  land  of  Canaan  to 
his  seed  for  an  everlasting  possession.  Surely  the  promi¬ 
ses  made  to  the  believing  fathers  shall  be  fulfilled  to  their 
believing  children,  even  as  truly  as  the  Lord  liveth.  The 
days  of  their  mourning  shall  be  ended.  Thy  people  also 
shall  he  all  righteous ;  they  shall  inherit  the  land  forever* 
The  Israelites  continued  not  in  the  first  covenant  which 
the  Lord  made  with  them  :  therefore  are  they  wanderers 
throughout  the  world,  who  have  nowhere  found  a  place  on 
which  the  sole  of  their  foot  could  rest — a  people  without  a 
country  ;  even  as  their  own  land,  as  subsequently  to  be 
shown,  is  in  a  great  measure  a  country  without  a  people. 
The  one  and  the  other  have  been  smitten  with  a  curse. 
But  let  that  curse  be  taken  away — let  the  Lord  remember 
the  people  and  remember  the  land,  and  there  shall  be  no  more 
scattering  nor  wandering,  no  more  desolation,  no  more  sep¬ 
aration  between  Zion  and  her  children.  Israel  has  ruined 
himsell’;  but  in  the  Lord  his  help  is  to  be  found,  even  plen¬ 
teous  redemption.  The  broken  fragments  of  the  tables  of 
the  law  were  not  gathered  up  and  cemented  together,  but 
new  tables  were  made,  on  which  the  law  was  written,  at 
the  command  of  the  Lord,  by  the  hand  of  Moses.  And  a 
broken  covenant  is  not  renewed,  but  a  new  and  everlasting 
covenant  is  established  upon  better  promises,  and  appointed 
by  the  Lord  in  the  hand  of  a  Mediator. 

Such  is  the  connexion  between  the  covenant  with  Abra¬ 
ham  and  the  new  and  everlasting  covenant  which  the  Lord 
will  make  with  the  house  of  Israel,  that  the  words  of  Jere- 

*  Isaiah,  lx.,  30,  31. 


44 


THE  PERPETUITY  OF  THE  COVENANT 


miah,  quoted  by  Paul,  in  which  it  is  so  explicitly  announced, 
are  ushered  in  by  the  declaration  of  the  Lord  himself,  that 
He  will  bring  again  their  captivity;  and  that,  like  as  He 
watched  over  them  to  pluck  up  and  to  break  down,  and  to 
throw  down,  and  to  destroy,  and  to  afflict,  so  will  He  watch 
over  them  to  build  and  to  plant.*  And  the  words  which 
immediately  follow  the  description  of  the  nature  of  the  new 
covenant  are,  “  Thus  saith  the  Lord,  which  giveth  the  sun 
for  a  light  by  day,  and  the  ordinance  of  the  moon  and  of  the 
stars  for  a  light  by  night,  which  divideth  the  sea  when  the 
waves  thereof  roar  —  the  Lord  of  Hosts  is  his  name.  If 
those  ordinances  depart  from  before  me,  saith  the  Lord,  then 
the  seed  of  Israel  also  shall  cease  from  being  a  nation  before 
me  forever.  Thus  saith  the  Lord,  If  heaven  above  can  be 
measured,  and  the  foundations  of  the  earth  searched  out  be¬ 
neath,  I  will  also  cast  off  all  the  seed  of  Israel  for  all  that  they 
have  done,  saith  the  Lord.  Behold,  the  days  come,  saith 
the  Lord,  that  the  city  shall  be  built  to  the  Lord  ;  and  the 
measuring  line  shall  go  over  against  it ;  and  it  shall  not  be 
plucked  up  nor  thrown  down  any  more  forever.”!  Such 
shall  be  the  issue  of  the  establishment  of  the  new  covenant 
with  the  house  of  Israel  and  with  the  house  of  Judah. 

The  first  foundation  of  it  is,  indeed,  the  first  promise  to 
sinful  man  :  the  seed  of  the  woman  shall  bruise  the  head 
of  the  serpent.  The  promise  assumed  a  more  definite  form 
when  Abraham,  at  the  command  of  the  Lord,  had  gone  to 
Canaan  ;  and  again  still  more  expressly  when  David  had 
taken  the  stronghold  of  Zion.  The  covenant  with  Abraham 
secured  ultimately,  though  not  immediately,  a  special  boon 
to  a  peculiar  people,  and  the  blessing  of  redemption  to  all 
the  families  of  the  earth.  Justice  interposed  so  soon  as, 
under  the  law,  the  march  was  begun  from  the  house  of 
bondage  to  the  land  of  promise.  But  when  David  was 
called  from  the  sheepfold  to  the  throne,  and  when  he  who, 
while  a  stripling,  had  gone  forth  in  faith  against  Goliath, 
was  seated  there,  a  covenant  was  made  with  him,  of  which 
the  character  is  mercy,  and  by  which  the  faithfulness  of 
God  is  made  known  and  established  to  all  generations,  and 
a  horn  of  salvation  was  raised  up  in  his  house  for  Jew  and 
Gentile. 

“  I  will  sing,”  says  the  royal  and  inspired  Psalmist,  “  of 
the  mercies  of  the  Lord  forever :  with  my  mouth  will  I 

*  Jer.,  xxii.,  23,  28'  t  Ibid.,  xxn.,  35-40 


CONCERNING  THE  LAND. 


45 


make  known  thy  faithfulness  to  all  generations.  For  I 
have  said,  mercy  shall  be  built  up  forever  ;  thy  faithfulness 
shall  thou  establish  in  the  very  heavens.  I  have  made  a 
covenant  with  my  chosen,  I  have  sworn  unto  David  my 
servant.  Thy  seed  will  I  establish  forever,  and  build  up  thy 
throne  to  all  generations.*  Then  thou  spakest  in  vision  to 
thy  holy  One,  and  saidst,  I  have  laid  help  upon  one  that  is 
mighty  ;  I  have  exalted  one  chosen  out  of  the  jjeople.  I 
have  found  David  my  servant ;  with  my  holy  oil  have  I 
anointed  him — with  whom  my  hand  shall  be  established. 
My  faithfulness  and  my  mercy  shall  be  with  him  ;  and  in 
my  name  shall  his  horn  be  exalted.  Also,  I  will  make 
him  my  first-born,  higher  than  the  kings  of  the  earth.  My 
mercy  will  I  keep  for  him  for  evermore,  and  my  covenant 
shall  standfast  with  him.  His  seed  also  will  I  make  to  en¬ 
dure  forever,  and  his  throne  as  the  days  of  heaven.  I  will 
not  suffer  my  faithfulness  to  fail.  My  covenant  will  I  not 
break,  nor  alter  the  thing  that  is  gone  out  of  ?ny  lips.  Once 
have  I  sworn  by  my  holiness  that  I  will  not  lie  unto  David. 
His  seed  shall  endure  forever,  and  his  throne  as  the  sun 
before  me.”t 

In  virtue  of  this  covenant,  the  evangelical  prophet  pro¬ 
claims  the  free  Gospel  call  to  all  the  ends  of  the  earth, 
which  shall  finally  see  the  salvation  of  the  Lord.  “  Ho, 
every  one  that  thirsteth,  come  ye  to  the  waters,  and  he  that 
hath  no  money  ;  come  ye,  buy  and  eat  ;  yea,  come,  buy 
wine  and  milk  without  money  and  without  price  :  incline 
your  ear,  and  come  unto  me  ;  hear,  and  your  soul  shall  live  ; 
and  I  will  make  an  everlasting  covenant  with  you,  even  the 
sure  mercies  of  David  f\  &c. 

In  denouncing  on  Israel,  because  of  unfaithfulness,  the 
curses  of  the  covenant  under  the  law,  the  same  prophet  said, 
The  Lord  sent  a  word  into  Jacob,  and  it  hath  lighted  upon 
Israel.*^  And  Moses,  by  whom  that  covenant  was  given, 
declared,  that  if  the  children  of  Israel  would  repent  and  re¬ 
turn  unto  the  Lord,  and  love  him  with  all  their  hearts,  the 
Lord  would  take  these  curses  from  them  and  put  them  upon 
their  enemies. H  But  it  may  be  feared  that  while  the  Gen¬ 
tiles,  professing  the  faith  of  the  Gospel,  have  accounted  the 
sure  mercies  of  David  theirs,  they  have  often  left  nothing 
but  “  the  curses”  as  the  appointed  portion  of  the  people  to 

*  Ps.  Ixxxix.,  1-4.  t  Ib.,  19,  20,  24-36.  X  Isa.,  Iv.,  1-3. 

$  Isa.,  ix.,  8.  II  Deut.,  xxx.,  7.  ' 


46 


THE  PERPETUITY  OF  THE  COVENANT 


whose  fathers  the  promises  were  given.  Or  if,  as  cannot 
be  denied,  it  be  admitted,  that  were  the  door  at  which  the 
Son  of  David  now  stands  and  knocks,  opened  by  any  man, 
whether  Jew  or  Gentile,  who  hears  his  voice.  He  will  come 
in  to  him,*  yet  there  may  be,  in  the  minds  of  many,  a  linger¬ 
ing  apprehension,  if  not  a  positive  belief,  that  the  Jews  have 
long  been  shut  out  from  the  covenanted  promises  of  the 
God  of  Abraham,  of  Isaac,  and  of  Jacob,  as  in  any  way  pe¬ 
culiar  to  their  seed,  or  pertaining  to  the  land  of  their  inher¬ 
itance. 

Such  an  opinion  derives  a  seeming  sanction  from  the 
high  attributes  with  which  it  seems  to  clothe  the  everlasting 
covenant  of  grace  and  mercy  by  a  Redeemer,  and  forbids, 
as  it  were,  the  overshadowing  of  “  the  glory  of  the  latter 
days”  by  any  merely  territorial  allotment  to  any  peculiar 
people,  when  the  same  great  salvation,  in  all  the  fulness  of 
the  Gospel,  shall  extend  alike  to  all. 

That  glory  is  not  to  be  defined,  which  since  the  begin¬ 
ning  of  the  world  men  have  not  heard,  neither  perceived 
with  the  ear,  neither  hath  the  eye  seen,  but  the  Lord  alone 
— even  the  glory  which  He  hath  prepared  for  him  that  wait¬ 
ed  for  Him.f  But  these  words,  which  set  forth  that  glory 
as  indescribable,  because  inconceivable,  follow  the  prayer 
of  the  prophet,  and  may  be  regarded  as  its  answer  ;  “  Re¬ 
turn,  for  thy  servanCs  sake,  the  tribes  of  thine  inheritance. 
The  people  of  thy  holiness  have  possessed  it  for  a  little 
while  :  our  adversaries  have  trodden  down  thy  sanctuary. 
We  are  thine  :  thou  never  barest  rule  over  them  ;  they  were 
not  called  by  thy  name.  Oh  that  thou  wouldst  rend  the 
heavens,  that  thou  wouldst  come  down,”{  &c. 

True  it  is  that  we  now  see  through  a  glass  darkly,  but 
then  face  to  face.  It  is  well  to  cast  down  high  imagina¬ 
tions,  and  not  vainly  seek  to  be  wise  above  what  is  written. 
But  it  is  also  well  to  give  heed  to  the  sure  word  of  prophecy : 
and  it  is  written.  Shake  thyself  from  the  dust :  arise,  and 
sit  down,  O  Jerusalem  :  loose  thyself  from  the  bands  of  thy 
neck,  O  captive  daughter  of  Zion.  The  watchmen  shall 
lift  up  the  voice  ;  w’ith  the  voice  together  shall  they  sing ; 
for  they  shall  see  eye  to  eye,  when  the  Lord  shall  bring 
AGAIN  Zion.  Break  forth  into  joy,  sing  together,  ye  waste 
places  of  Jerusalem  ;  for  the  Lord  hath  comforted  his  peo¬ 
ple,  for  He  hath  redeemed  Jerusalem.  The  Lord  hath 

*  Rev.,  iii.,  20.  I  Isa.,  Ixiv.,  4. 


t  Isa.,  Ixiii.,  17-19  ;  Ixiv.,  1. 


CONCERNING  THE  LAND. 


47 


made  bare  his  holy  arm  in  the  sight  of  all  nations  ;  and  all 
the  ends  of  the  earth  shall  see  the  salvation  of  the  Lord.* 

The  introduction  of  the  Gospel  dispensation,  and  the 
adoption  of  Gentiles  into  the  household  of  faith  (of  others 
than  those  who  have  trodden  down  the  sanctuary),  the  scat¬ 
tering  of  the  Jews  among  all  nations,  their  long-continued 
impenitence,  and  seeming  excision  forever,  have  often  led 
Christians  to  forget  not  only  the  sure  word  of  prophecy, 
but  also  the  testimony  of  an  apostle.  That  God  hath  not  cast 
away  Israel,  that  they  are  beloved  for  the  father^ s  sake,  and 
that  the  gifts  and  calling  of  God  are  ^ithout  repentance,  or 
change  of  purpose. f 

There  is  no  arguing  against  facts  ;  there  is  no  arguing 
against  texts,  which  declare  the  will  and  purpose  of  Jeho¬ 
vah,  and  sometimes  even  his  covenant  and  his  oath.  The 
tenour  of  these  we  have  already  seen.  But,  were  it  possi¬ 
ble,  assurance  becomes  doubly  sure  when  we  look  at  such 
objections  in  the  light  of  Scripture,  as  it  still  more  fully  re¬ 
veals  this  very  thing,  and  shows  that  the  covenant  with  Da¬ 
vid,  and  the  new  and  everlasting  covenant  with  Israel  con¬ 
joined,  are  the  very  completion  of  the  covenant,  the  very 
confirmation,  in  fact,  of  the  oath  which  the  Lord  sware  to 
Abraham,  to  Isaac,  and  to  Jacob,  that  He  would  give  the 
promised  land  to  be  their  everlasting  possession,  and  also, 
simultaneously  realized  as  recorded,  that  in  their  seed  all 
the  families  of  the  earth  shall  be  blessed.  The  restoration 
and  redemption  of  Israel  are  often  associated  in  Scripture, 
as  originally  in  the  covenant,  with  the  salvation  of  the  world. 

These  two  things  which  God  hath  joined  together,  and 
over  both  of  which  alike  He  has  lifted  up  his  hand,  ought 
not  to  be  put  asunder  by  man ;  and  are  not  to  be  separated 
by  any  words  that  can  come  from  human  lips.  They  are, 
we  believe,  equally  true ;  and  in  their  harmony,  when  all 
nations  shall  hear  the  joyful  sound,  and  see  the  glorious 
sight,  the  restoration^  of  the  moral  harmony  of  this  world  is 
dependant. 

There  is  no  room  here  for  any  jealousy  for  the  honour  of  ^ 
the  Gospel ;  rather  is  it  here  that  the  headstone  shall  be 
brought  forth  with  shoutings,  Grace,  Grace  unto  it.X  The 
restoration  of  Israel  stands  on  the  promise  of  God,  and  is 
not  to  be  achieved  through  the  merit  of  man.  And  the  Gos¬ 
pel  was  preached  at  the  time  when  that  promise  was  given. 

*  Isa.,  Hi.,  1,  8-10.  [  Rom,,  xi  ,  28,  29.  t  Zech.,  iv.,  7. 


48 


THE  PERPETUITY  OF  THE  COVENANT 


i 

i 


“  The  Scriptures,  foreseeing  that  God  would  justify  the 
heathen  through  faith,  preached  before  the  Gospel  unto 
Abraham,  saying.  In  thee  shall  all  nations  be  blessed.”* 
This  fact  enters  into  the  faith  of  all  believers ;  and  it  forms 
the  very  hope  of  the  Gentiles,  never  to  be  renounced,  never 
to  be  forgotten.  And  is  it  well  to  let  oblivion  pass  over  the 
other  promise  to  Abraham,  no  less  clearly  given,  no  less 
solemnly  guarantied  ?  Is  there  no  danger  to  faith  itself 
in  quashing  the  question  of  the  fulfilment  of  the  promise, 
and  the  performance  of  the  oath  of  the  Lord,  concern¬ 
ing  the  land,  as  if  it were  not  to  be  raised  from  the  dor¬ 
mancy  of  ages  into  which  it  has  fallen  among  Christian 
men  ?  It  is  by  these  two  immutahle  things^  his  promise  and 
his  oath,  in  which  it  was  impossible  for  God  to  lie,  that  we 
have  a  strong  consolation  who  have  fled  for  refuge  to  lay 
hold  upon  the  hope  set  before  us.f  And  it  was  by  these 
two  immutable  things  that  Israel’s  charter  to  the  land  was 
confirmed  ;  and  on  them  it  reposes,  as  secure  as  the  hope 
of  the  faithful. 

But  it  may  be  asked,  in  words  more  expressive  of  dis¬ 
belief  than  of  faith.  What  are  the  Israelites  as  a  people,  - 
hitherto  a  reproach  and  by-word  among  the  nations,  that 
they  should  possess  any  distinctive  privilege  1  What  is 
the  land  of  Israel  more  than  any  other  land  ?  Or,  save  for 
the  memory  of  the  past,  what  is  Jerusalem  more  than  any 
other  city  ?  That,  in  each  case,  which  the  Lord  hath 
declared  that  they  shall  be.  What — for  the  question  is 
equivalent — is  the  truth  and  faithfulness  of  God  ?  What 
his  covenant  and  his  oath?  What  the  purpose  which  He 
hath  declared  ?  and  what  the  consequent  glory  of  his  name  ? 
We  ask  not  here  what  the  Israelites  were  under  the  first 
covenant  and  its  curses,  but  what  they  shall  be  under  the 
second  and  its  blessings.  What  say  the  Scriptures  ?  and 
are  they  to  be  believed  or  not  ? 

No  testimony  can  be  more  explicit  and  decided  that)  that 
of  David  himself,  as  twice  recorded  in  Scripture,  that  the 
part  of  the  covenant  with  Abraham  which  Christians  are  so 
prone  to  overlook,  ought  to  be  hold  in  perpetual  remem- 
orance,  as  well  as  the  other,  “  Seek  ye  the  Lord  and  his 
strength  ;  seek  his  face  coiuinually.  Remember  his  marvel¬ 
lous  works  that  He  hath  done,  his  wonders,  and  the  judg¬ 
ments  of  his  mouth  ;  O  ye  seed  of  Jacob  his  servant,  ye 

*  Gal.,  iii.,  8.  t  Heb.,  vi  ,  18. 


i 

i 


CONCERNING  THE  LAND. 


49 


children  of  Jacob,  his  chosen  ones.  He  is  the  Lord  our 
God  ;  his  judgments  are  in  all  the  earth.  Be  ye  mindful 
always  of  his  covenant,  the  word  which  He  commanded  to  a 
thousand  generations  ;  even  the  covenant  which  He  made 
with  Abraham,  and  his  oath  unto  Isaac ;  and  hath  enjoined 
the  same  to  Jacob  for  a  law,  and  to  Israel  for  an  ever/astins 
covenant;  saying.  Unto  thee  will  I  give  the  land  of  Canaan, 
the  lot  of  your  mheritance ;  when  ye  were  but  few,  even  a 
few,  and  strangers  in  it.”* 

David  feared  no  infringement  of  the  covenant  with  his 
house,  because  of  that  which  the  Lord  had  made  before 
with  the  fathers.  Nay,  rather,  when  seated  upon  his 
throne,  an  anointed  and  covenanted  king,  exercising  a 
sovereignty  which  was  recognised  from  the  borders  of 
Egypt  to  the  banks  of  the  Euphrates,  he  looked  back  for 
twelve,  thirteen,  and  fourteen  generations,  to  the  days  when 
the  covenant  was  made  with  Abraham  ere  he  had  a  son  for 
an  heir,  attested  to  Isaac,  whose  two  sons  were  all  his 
family,  and  confirmed  as  a  law  and  an  everlasting  covenant 
to  Jacob,  all  of  whose  descendants,  on  leaving  Canaan,  num¬ 
bered  threescore  and  ten  persons  ;  and  he  did  not  limit  its 
duration  to  a  few  more  generations  of  shortlived  mortals, 
but,  knowing  in  whom  he  believed,  he  spake  like  a  king, 
with  whom  and  with  whose  house  the  Eternal  had  made  a 
covenant  forever;  and  in  words  which  earthly  monarchs 
cannot  use  in  speaking  of  their  dynasties  or  kingdoms,  he 
called  on  all  the  sons  of  Jacob  to  be  always  mindful  of  the 
covenant  which  the  Lord  had  commanded  to  a  thousand 
generations,  that  the  land  of  Canaan  should  be  the  lot  of 
their  inheritance. 

So  far  was  the  covenant  with  David  from  annulling  this 
or  any  other  of  the  promises  of  God,  that,  ever  after  its  an¬ 
nouncement,  the  prophets,  who  testified  of  the  coming  of 
the  Messiah,  speak  in  other  strains  than  those  of  Moses 
and  Joshua  touching  the  final  return  of  the  seed  of  Jacob  to 
the  land  of  their  inheritance.  The  promises,  expressed  in 
positive  terms,  are  again  free  and  unconditional  as  when 
first  made  to  Abraham,  and  are  no  longer  dependant  on  the 
obedience  or  merit  of  man,  but  on  the  faithfulness  and 
mercy  of  God.  They  are,  indeed,  to  be  fulfilled,  as  they 
were  first  uttered,  to  believing  men.  But  for  the  redemp¬ 
tion  of  Israel  the  Lord  hath  provided ;  and  He  who  said  to 
*  1  Chron.,  11-19.  Ps.  cv,,  4-13.  , 

E 


50 


THE  PERPETUITY  OF  THE  COVENANT 


Jacob,  I  will  make  Ihee  faithful — I  will  not  leave  thee  till  I 
have  done  all  that  I  have  spoken  to  thee  of,  will  give  his 
seed  a  heart  to  know  him,  and  put  a  new  spirit  within  them* 
and  make  with  them  an  everlasting  covenant  of  peace. 

Dark  as  the  history  of  any  nation,  and  often  utterly  im 
pervious  to  all  human  hope,  as  that  of  Israel  in  past  ages 
has  been,  yet  there  has  ever  been  a  light  sufficient  to  illu¬ 
minate  the  darkest  place,  and  the  radiance  of  the  sure  word 
of  prophecy  has  shone  throughout  the  gloom,  and,  where 
all  else  was  the  blackness  of  darkness,  has  often  opened  up 
to  view,  as  a  lamp  that  burneth,  the  covenanUthat  standeth 
forever. 

When,  as  the  Lord  had  also  sworn,  the  curses  of  the 
covenant  which  He  made  with  the  Israelites  when  they 
came  out  of  Egypt,  fell  most  heavily  on  all  the  evil  family 
that  had  brought  them  on  their  own  heads,  and  threatened 
to  lay  the  house  of  Jacob  in  the  dust  forever,  there  was  still 
some  token  or  testimony  from  the  Lord  that  these  curses 
would  not  be  of  everlasting  duration  ;  and  there  was  yet 
hope  for  Israel,  founded  on  the  promise  to  the  fathers,  and 
the  assurance  that  the  covenant  with  David  would  finally 
lead  to  the  completion  of  the  covenant  with  Abraham. 

Before  Israel  became  an  outcast  people,  idolaters  as  they 
had  been,  multiplying  transgressions,  and,  though  chasten¬ 
ed,  refusing  to  return,  and  revolting  more  and  more,  yet  the 
Lord  addressed  them  like  a  father  whose  heart  yearns  on 
banishing  from  his  household  the  child  of  his  bowels,  though 
a  rebellious  son,  “  How  shall  I  give  thee  up,  Ephraim  ? 
how  shall  I  deliver  thee,  Israel  ?  how  shall  I  make  thee  as 
Admah  1  how  shall  I  set  thee  as  Zeboirn  ?  my  heart  is  turn¬ 
ed  within  me,  my  repentings  are  kindled  together.  I  will 
not  execute  the  fierceness  of  mine  anger,  I  will  not  return 
to  destroy  Israel.”!  And  when  the  righteous  sentence 
must  come  forth  from  the  Holy  One  of  Israel,  it  is  wound 
up  with  a  promise  of  that  final  deliverance  which  shall  be 
found  in  the  Son  of  David,  for  vfhom  mercy  shall  he  kept 
forever,  and  with  whom  the  covenant  shall  stand  for  ever¬ 
more, \ 

Before  the  ten  tribes  were  plucked  from  their  land,  and 
led  captive  into  Assyria,  their  return  in  the  latter  days  was 
explicitly  declared  in  the  words  of  Hosea,  as  in  many  other 
passages  of  Scripture.  “  The  children  of  Israel  shall  abide 


*  Jer.,  xxiv.,  7.  Ezek.,  zxzvi.,  26. 


t  Psalm  bczzix. 


t  Hosea,  zi.,  8,  0. 


CONCERNING  THE  LAND- 


SI 


many  days  without  a  king,  and  without  a  prince,  and  with¬ 
out  sacrifice,  and  without  an  image,  and  without  ephod,  and 
without  teraphim.  Afterward  shall  the  children  of  Israel 
return^  and  seek  the  Lord  their  God,  and  David  their  king ; 
and  shall  fear  the  Lord  and  his  goodness  in  the  latter  days.^^’^ 

Even  when  outcast  Israel  was  like  a  child  banished  from 
a  father’s  house,  the  words  of  the  Lord  are  still  those  of  a 
Father  to  Israel.  Is  Ephraim  my  dear  son  1  is  he  a  pleas- 
ant  child  1  for  since  I  did  speak  against  him,  I  do  earnestly 
remember  him  still:  therefore  my  bowels  are  troubled  for 
him  ;  I  will  surely  have  mercy  upon  him,  saith  the  Lord, 
Turn  again,  O  virgin  of  Israel,  turn  again  to  these  thy 
cities,^ 

Though  Israel  was  cast  out,  but  not  cast  away  forever, 
the  sceptre  was  not  to  depart  from  Judah  till  Shiloh  should 
come ;  and  that  tribe  continued  unbroken  till  the  Messiah 
was  cut  off,  and  the  city  and  the  sanctuary,  as  Daniel  fore¬ 
told,  were  destroyed  by  the  Romans,  and  desolations  ap¬ 
pointed  even  to  the  consummation.  But  long  ere  then  they 
suffered,  though  in  a  slighter  degree,  the  penalties  of  a  bro¬ 
ken  law,  and  Judah  could  not  always  retain  Jerusalem. 
Yet  before  their  seventy  years’  captivity  began,  a  pledge 
was  first  given  by  the  prophet  who  foretold  the  extirpation 
of  the  Jews  from  the  land  of  their  fathers,  that  the  covenant 
with  Abraham,  as  finally  to  be  fulfilled,  was  not  abrogated 
for  an  hour. 

When,  after  having  possessed  Judea  for  eight  hundred 
and  fifty  years,  the  Jews  were  about  to  be  led  captive  to 
Babylon,  and  Jerusalem  to  be  given  into  the  hands  of  the 
Chaldeans,  as  the  word  of  the  Lord  declared ;  and,  in  hu¬ 
man  seeming,  the  covenant  was  to  be  broken  by  the  depar¬ 
ture  forever  of  the  last  remaining  tribe  of  Israel,  Jeremiah, 
at  the  command  of  the  Lord,  bought  a  field  in  Anathoth,  the 
redemption  of  which  was  his  right,  from  Hananeel,  his  un¬ 
cle’s  son.  He  subscribed  the  evidence,  and  sealed  it,  and 
took  witnesses,  and  weighed  the  money  in  the  balances, 
and  took  the  evidence  of  the  purchase,  and  gave  it  unto 
Baruch,  in  the  sight  of  Hananeel,  in  the  presence  of  the 
witnesses  that  subscribed  the  book,  before  all  the  Jews  that 
sat  in  the  court  of  the  prison.  And  he  charged  Baruch  be¬ 
fore  them,  saying,  Thus  saith  the  Lord  of  Hosts,  the  God 
of  Israel,  Take  these  evidences,  and  put  them  in  an  earth- 

*  Hosea,  iii.,  4,  5.  t  Jer.,  ixxi.,  20,  21. 


52 


THE  PERPETUITY  OF  THE  COVENANT 


en  vessel,  that  they  may  continue  many  days.  For  thus 
saith  the  Lord  of  Hosts,  the  God  of  Israel,  Houses,  and 
fields,  and  vineyards  shall  be  possessed  again  in  this  land. 
And  Jeremiah  prayed  unto  the  Lord,  saying,  Ah,  Lord  God ! 
behold,  thou  hast  made  the  heaven  and  the  earth  by  thy  pow¬ 
er  and  stretched-oijt  arm,  and  there  is  nothing  too  hard  for 
thee,  &c.  He  spake  of  the  signs  and  wonders  which  the 
Lord  had  wrought  in  bringing  them  to  that  land,  which  He 
did  swear  to  ihtir  fathers  to  give  them.  He  acknowledged 
that  their  transgression  was  the  cause  of  their  calamities  ; 
and  he  appealed  to  the  enemies  around  Jerusalem  as  a  sure 
evidence  that  they  would  be  led  captive,  and  to  the  pur¬ 
chase  he  had  made  as  a  sure  token  of  their  return.  And  in 
the  word  that  came  to  him,  we  read,  “  Now,  therefore,  thus 
saith  the  Lord,  the  God  of  Israel,  concerning  this  city 
whereof  ye  say,  it  shall  be  delivered  into  the  hand  of  the 
King  of  Babylon,  by  the  sword,  and  by  the  famine,  and  by 
the  pestilence  :  Behold,  I  will  gather  them  out  of  all  coun¬ 
tries,  whither  I  have  driven  them  in  mine  anger,  and  in  my 
fury,  and  in  great  wrath ;  and  I  will  bring  them  again  unto 
this  place,  and  I  will  cause  them  to  dwell  safely :  and  they 
shall  be  my  people,  and  I  will  be  their  God.  And  I  will 
give  them  one  heart,  and  one  way,  that  they  may  fear  me 
forever,  for  the  good  of  them  and  of  their  children  after 
them  :  and  I  will  make  an  everlasting  covenant  with  them, 
that  I  will  not  turn  away  from  them  to  do  them  good ;  but  I 
will  put  my  fear  in  their  hearts,  that  they  shall  not  depart 
from  me.  Yea,  I  will  rejoice  over  them  to  do  them  good, 
and  I  will  plant  them  in  this  land  assuredly  with  my  whole 
heart  and  with  my  whole  soul.”* 

These  words,  though  heard  in  the  court  of  the  prison  of 
the  besieged  city  of  Jerusalem,  sound  not  like  a  repealing 
of  the  everlasting  covenant.  The  decree  of  Heaven,  an¬ 
nounced  by  the  prophet,  had  indeed  given  that  city  to  the 
Chal  leans,  and  doomed  its  inhabitants  to  exile  and  captivi¬ 
ty.  But  even  while  the  mounts  of  its  enemies  and  destined 
captors  were  raised  around  Jerusalem,  a  valid  purchase  of 
a  field  in  the  adjoining  country  of  Benjamin  could  be  made, 
and  the  evidence  of  that  purchase  be  deposited  in  an  earth¬ 
en  vessel,  to  rest  secure  till  the  seed  of  Jacob  should  return 
to  their  own  land.  While  of  themselves  they  were  as  hope¬ 
less  a6  helpless,  it  was  given  to  the  prophet,  ere  the  van- 

*  Jer.,  xxxii. 


CONCERNING  THE  LAND. 


53 


quished  captives  were  exiles  from  Judea,  to  know  and  to 
record,  that  the  Lord  would  assuredly  plant  them  in  their 
own  land  again.  The  long-suffering  patience  of  the  Holy 
One  of  Israel,  wearied  with  repentiiig,  could  not  bear  with 
their  iniquities  any  more  ;  and,  in  fulfilment  of  his  own 
word,  the  last  remnant  of  the  seed  of  Jacob  was  to  be  pluck¬ 
ed  from  the  land  promised  to  their  fathers  and  to  their  seed 
forever.  But,  even  at  the  very  time  when  the  Lord  had 
brought  a  sword  upon  them  to  avenge  the  quarrel  of  his  cov¬ 
enant,  and  they  were  about  to  be  delivered  into  the  hand  of 
their  enemy,  and  the  land  to  be  emptied  of  the  children  of 
Israel,  as  Moses  and  Joshua  had  forewarned  them,  yet  the 
covenant  itself  was  ratified  by  the  Lord,  with  his  whole  heart, 
and  with  his  whole  soul,  as  “  assuredly”  as  it  had  been,  at 
the  beginning,  by  the  oath  which  He  sware  unto  their  fa¬ 
thers,  ere  ever  Abraham  or  Jacob,  at  any  time,  departed  out 
of  the  land  of  Canaan. 

True  indeed  it  is,  that  in  the  last  siege  of  Jerusalem, 
when  the  judgments  of  the  Lord  came  upon  them  to  the  ut¬ 
termost,  there  was  not  a  prophet  to  tell  again  that  their  ex¬ 
patriated  race  ever  would  return.  No  field  in  the  whole 
land  of  Israel  could  be  purchased  then  to  be  inherited  in 
the  next  or  any  succeeding  generation.  Among  all  the  sons 
of  Jacob,  scattered  everywhere  throughout  the  wide  world, 
there  has  not  for  many  past  ages  been  a  man  who,  like  the 
sojourner  Abraham,  had  a  right  to  a  cave  in  Canaan,  and 
to  the  field  and  trees  around  it,  nor  to  a  parcel  of  ground 
such  as  Jacob  gave  to  his  son  Joseph  ;  nor  is  there  an  earth¬ 
en  vessel  now  containing  the  evidence  of  the  purchase,  or 
the  chartered  fight  to  the  possession  of  a  single  field  in  the 
country  of  Benjamim,  or  of  any  of  the  tribes  of  Israel,  which 
has  continued  since  Jerusalem  was  besieged  by  the  Ro¬ 
mans,  like  that  in  which  the  prophet  put  the  record  of  the 
egal  purchase  of  the  field  in  Anathoth.  In  the  dark  day 
of  Judah’s  fall,  the  sun  had  gone  down  over  the  ’prophets,  and 
they  had  a  vision*  And  once  in  all  their  history,  Israel 
left  Canaan  without  a  renewal* of  the  covenant,  and  was 
driven  out  in  anger,  and  in  wrath,  and  in  great  indignation, 
without  one  word  from  the  Lord  of  comfort  or  of  hope. 
Even  irrespective  of  the  termination  of  the  limited  and  ap¬ 
pointed  time,  “  the  end”  of  Jerusalem  declared  that  the  time 
was  come  in  which  the  words  of  Daniel  were  fulfilled,  in 

*  Mic.,  iii.,  0. 

E2 


54 


THE  PERPETUITY  OF  THE  COVENANT 


the  next  and  greatest  destruction  of  the  city :  “  And  the 
people  of  the  prince  that  shall  come  shall  destroy  the  city 
and  the  sanctuary  ;  and  the  end  thereof  shall  be  with  a  flood, 
and  unto  the  end  of  the  war  desolations  are  determined: 
and  He  shall  cause  the  sacrifice  and  oblation  to  cease,  and 
for  the  overspreading  of  abominations  He  shall  make  it  des¬ 
olate,  even  until  the  consummation,”*  &c.  But  prior  to 
that  time,  according  to  the  same  prophetic  word,  Messiah 
the  Prince  was  to  come,  and  be  cut  off.  And  no  prophet, 
possessing  the  Spirit  only  in  measure,  was  needed  to  speak 
when  Jesus  had  spoken.  And  He,  of  whom  all  the  proph¬ 
ets  testified,  wept  over  Jerusalem,  and  thus  bewailed  its 
coming  destruction  :  “  O  Jerusalem,  Jerusalem,  that  killest 
the  prophets  and  stonest  them  that  are  sent  unto  thee,  how 
often  would  I  have  gathered  thy  children  together,  even  as 
a  hen  gathereth  her  chickens  under  her  wings,  and  ye 
would  not !  Behold,  your  house  is  left  unto  you  desolate. 
For  I  say  unto  you,  ye  shall  not  see  me  henceforth  till  ye 
shall  say.  Blessed  is  He  that  cometh  in  the  name  of  the 
Lord  !”f  “  Ye  shall  be  led  captive  into  all  nations  ;  and 

Jerusalem  shall  be  trodden  down  of  the  Gentiles,  until  the 
time  of  the  Gentiles  be  fulfilled.’’^  These  words  imply  that 
the  time,  however  distant,  would  come  at  last,  when  Jeru¬ 
salem  shall  no  longer  be  trodden  down  of  the  Gentiles. 
Upon  his  cross  was  the  inscription  written,  in  Hebrew, 
Greek,  and  Latin,  so  that  Jews  and  Gentiles  alike  might 
read,  This  is  Jesus,  the  King  of  the  Jews.  After  his  resur¬ 
rection  He  instructed  his  disciples  in  the  things  pertaining 
to  the  kingdom  of  God  ;  and,  as  if  seeking  to  know  more 
than  He  had  seen  meet  to  reveal,  immediately  before  his 
ascension  they  asked  the  Lord  if  He  would  at  that  time  re~ 
store  again  the  kingdom  of  Israel,^  without  the  expression 
of  a  doubt  that  He  would  some  time  restore  it,  but  resting 
the  question  which  they  put  upon  the  certainty  of  the  fact, 
their  faith  in  which  the  answer  of  Jesus  did  not  shake,  “  It 
is  not  for  you  to  know  the  times  or  the  seasons  which  the 
Father  hath  in  his  own  pawer.” 

When  the  armed  band  laid  hold  on  Jesus,  and  when  He 
commanded  Peter  to  put  up  his  sword,  into  its  sheath.  He 
said,  “  Thinkest  thou  that  1  cannot  now  pray  unto  my  Fa¬ 
ther,  and  He  shall  presently  give  me  more  than  twelve  le- 


*  Dan.,  ii.,  26,  27. 
t  Luke,  xxi.,  24. 


t  Matt.,  xxiii.,  37-39. 
§  Acts,  i.,  3,  6. 


CONCERNING  THE  LAND. 


55 


gions  of  angels  1  Bui  how  then  shall  the  Scri'ptures  he  ful¬ 
filled  that  thus  it  must  be  How  could  they  have  been 
fulfilled,  notwithstanding  the  unbelief  of  the  Jews,  if  the 
Messiah  had  not  been  cut  off,  if  the  righteous  servant  of  the 
Lord  had  not  been  led  as  a  lamb  to  the  slaughter,  and  cut 
off  out  of  the  land  of  the  living,  and  if  He  had  not  poured 
out  his  soul  unto  death,  an  offering  for  sin  ?t  But  the  proph¬ 
ets  testified  beforehand  not  only  the  sufferings  of  the  Mes¬ 
siah,  but  the  glory  that  should  follow.  And  how,  notwith¬ 
standing  the  unbelief  of  Gentiles,  shall  the  Scriptures  be 
fulfilled,  if  the  kingdom  be  not  restored  to  Israel,  if  the  cov¬ 
enant  which  God  made  with  Abraham,  and  confirmed  by 
an  oath  to  Isaac,  and  for  a  law  to  Jacob,  and  for  an  ever¬ 
lasting  covenant  to  Israel,  to  give  to  their  seed  the  land  of 
Canaan  for  an  everlasting  possession,  be  not  ratified  in  fact? 
Nay,  how  shall  the  oath  which  the  Lord  hath  sworn  be  per¬ 
formed,  if,  contrary  to  his  word,  the  thing  that  hath  gone  out 
of  his  lips  be  altered,  or  be  not  done  ? 

Speaking  after  the  manner  of  men,  the  apostle  says.  If 
hut  a  maii’s  covenant  he  confirmed^  no  man  annulleth  or  add- 
eth  thereunto.\  The  covenant  of  God  with  Abraham  as  ex¬ 
pressly  bears  that  the  promised  land,  as  meted  out  and  de¬ 
fined,  was  given  to  him  and  to  his  seed  for  an  everlasting 
possession,  as  that  all  the  families  of  the  earth  shall  be  bless¬ 
ed  in  him.  And  if  a  man’s  covenant  cannot  be  annulled  or 
bear  abatement,  how  much  less  shall  the  Lord’s  ?  In  cov¬ 
enants  between  man  and  man  the  parties  may  be  perfectly 
sincere,  and  hold  themselves  absolutely  bound  to  the  com¬ 
pletion  of  every  word  that  is  written  in  the  bond  ;  and  yet 
things  unforeseen  and  uncontrollable  may  render  the  deed 
abortive,  and  turn  into  utter  worthlessness  every  guarantee 
that  man  could  offer.  And  though  an  oath  for  corjfirmation 
be  the  most  solemn  and  sacred  of  pledges,  it  may  secure 
nothing,  and  its  violation  only  prove  that  man  is  not  guilt¬ 
less  before  God.  But  Christians  surely  may  hear  and  be¬ 
lieve  what  Balaam  spake  by  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord,  when 
Balak  asked  him  concerning  Israel,  “  What  hath  the  Lord 
spoken  ?  And  he  said.  Rise  up,  Balak,  and  hear ;  hearken 
unto  me,  thou  son  of  Zippor :  God  is  not  a  man,  that  He 
should  lie  ;  neither  the  son  of  man,  that  He  should  repent : 
hath  He  said,  and  shall  He  not  do  it  ?  or  hath  He  spoken, 
and  shall  He  not  make  it  good  ?  He  hath  blessed,  and  I 

*  Matt.,  ixvi.,  53,  54.  t  Isa.,  lidi.  t  Gal.,  did.,  15. 


56 


THE  PERPETUITY  OF  THE  COVENANT 


cannot  reverse  it.”*  Reassurance  of  the  same  eternal  truth 
was  given  by  Samuel,  when  he  announced  to  Saul  that  his 
kingdom,  the  first  in  Israel,  was  rent  from  him  and  given  to 
another :  “  The  Strength  of  Israel  will  not  lie  nor  repent ; 
for  He  is  not  a  man  that  He  should  repent. ”f  Neither  can 
any  unforeseen  contingencies  frustrate  his  purpose — for  with 
him  there  are  none — nor  can  any  casue  arise  of  potency 
enough  to  annul  the  covenant  which  He  hath  declared  to 
be  everlasting.  When  He  lifted  up  his  hand  to  the  fathers 
concerning  it.  He  saw,  as  He  had  decreed,  the  end  from 
the  beginning.  And  age  after  age  He  declared  its  perpetu¬ 
ity,  even  when  it  seemed  to  have  ceased  forever. 

The  Lord  did  confirm  his  covenant.  A  smoking  furnace 
and  a  burning  lamp  were  its  visible  confirmation  on  the  day 
He  made  it  with  Abraham.  He  is  not  unmindful  of  his 
covenant,  or  of  the  sign  He  gave  to  the  father  of  the  faith¬ 
ful  that  his  seed  should  inherit  the  land  forever.  The  Lord 
thus  speaks  :  For  Zion’s  sake  I  will  not  hold  my  peace,  and 
for  Jerusalem’s  sake  I  will  not  rest,  until  the  righteousness 
thereof  go  forth  as  brightness,  and  the  salvation  thereof  as 
a  lamp  that  burneth.  And  the  Gentiles  shall  see  thy  righ¬ 
teousness,  and  all  kings  thy  glory.  Thou  shalt  no  more  be 
termed  Forsaken,  neither  shall  thy  land  be  any  more  termed 
Desolate ;  but  thou  shalt  be  called  Hephzi-bah  {my  delight 
is  in  her),  and  thy  land  Beulah  {married),  for  the  Lord  de- 
lighteth  in  thee,  and  thy  land  shall  be  married, ^  &lc.  They 
shall  build  the  old  wastes,  they  shall  raise  up  the  former 
desolations,  they  shall  repair  the  waste  cities,  the  desola¬ 
tions  of  many  generations,  &c.^ 

So  numerous,  clear,  and  positive  are  the  prophecies 
which  declare  the  final  restoration  of  the  Israelites  to  the 
land  of  their  inheritance,  that  the  denial  of  it  may  well 
seem  to  be  an  impeachment  of  the  truth  of  God,  in  regard 
to  the  very  thing  on  which  He  hath  staked  his  faithfulness. 
On  that  topic,  with  its  collateral  themes,  of  momentous  im¬ 
port  to  the  world,  the  author  may  enter  in  other  pages  than 
the  present.  But  as  to  their  final  possession  of  the  land,  a 
single  text,  after  the  general  view  which  has  been  given  of 
the  subject,  more  than  a  thousand  arguments,  may  serve  to 
show  how  assuredly  the  covenant  with  Abraham  concern¬ 
ing  the  land  shall  yet  be  accomplished.  “  Thus  saith  tho 


*  Num.,  xxiii.,  17-19. 
t  Isa.,  Ixii.,  1-4,  &c. 


t  1  Sam.,  XV.,  20 
^  Ibid.,  Ixi.,  4v 


CONCERNING  THE  LAND. 


57 


Lord  God,  Behold,  I  will  take  the  children  of  Israel  from 
among  the  heathen,  whither  they  be  gone,  and  will  gather 
them  on  every  side,  and  bring  them  into  their  own  land. 
And  I  will  make  them  one  nation  in  the  land  upon  the 
mountains  of  Israel,  and  one  king  shall  be  king  to  them  all ; 
and  they  shall  be  no  more  two  nations,  neither  shall  they 
be  divided  into  two  kingdoms  any  more  at  all.  And  David 
my  servant  shall  be  king  over  them,  and  they  shall  have 
one  shepherd  ;  they  shall  also  walk  in  my  judgments,  and 
observe  my  statutes,  and  do  them.  And  they  shall 

DWELL  IN  THE  LAND  WHICH  I  GAVE  UNTO  JaCOB  MY  SER¬ 
VANT,  wherein  your  fathers  have  dwelt ;  and  they  shall 
dwell  therein,  even  they,  and  their  children,  and  their  chil¬ 
dren’s  children, ybreuer  ,•  and  my  servant.  David  shall  he  their 
■prince  forever.  Moreover,  I  will  make  a  covenant  of  peace 
Avith  them :  it  shall  be  an  everlasting  covenant  with 
them  :  and  I  will  place  them,  and  multiply  them,  and  will 
set  my  sanctuary  in  the  midst  of  them /or  evermore.’^* 

The  unbelief  of  the  Israelites  could  not  make  void  the 
promise  of  God,  either  when  they  first  reached  the  borders 
of  Canaan,  or  when  the  last  tribe  was  rooted  out  of  their 
land.  Neither  can  it  now.  The  Egyptians,  seeing  an  un¬ 
believing  generation  dying  in  the  wilderness,  mi^dit  say  that 
the  Lord  was  not  able  to  bring  them  into  the  land  which  He 
had  promised  unto  them.  But  others  than  they  have  doubted 
and  disbelieved  ;  and  objections  against  belief  in  the  res- 
toration  of  the  kingdom  to  Israel  have  not  been  wanting  in 
modern  times.  And  now  that  Israel  and  Judah  have  for 
ages  been  expatriated,  the  conclusion  may  seem  to  be  ra¬ 
tional  that  the  Lord  hath  cast  them  ofi’,  and  abolished  his 
covenant.  All  such  reasonings,  then,  when  fully  consider¬ 
ed,  may  finally  be  cast  at  once  into  the  balance  of  the  sanc¬ 
tuary,  that  their  weight,  if  any,  may  be  tried.  And  all  such 
objections  may  be  answered  by  the  word  of  the  Lord  which 
came  to  Jeremiah,  saying,  “  Considerest  thou  not  what  this 
people  have  spoken,  saying.  The  two  families  which  the 
Lord  hath  chosen.  He  hath  even  cast  them  off?  thus  they 
have  despised  my  people,  that  they  should  be  no  more  a 
nation  before  them.  Thus  saith  the  Lord,  If  my  covenant 
be  not  with  the  day  and  night,  and  if  I  have  not  appointed 
the  ordinances  of  heaven  and  earth,  then  will  I  cast  away 
the  seed  of  Jacob,  and  David  my  servant,  so  that  I  will  not 

♦  E2ek,.  xxxvii..  19-26. 


68 


THE  PERPETUITY  OF  THE  COVENANT 


take  any  of  his  seed  to  be  rulers  over  the  seed  of  Abraham, 
Isaac,  and  Jacob,  for  I  will  cause  their  captivity  to  return, 
and  have  mercy  on  them.”* 

Finally,  as  at  the  first,  “  To  the  law  and  to  the  testimony  ; 
if  they  speak  not  according  to  this  word,  it  is  because  there 
is  no  light  in  them.”!  Thus  saith  the  Lord,  the  King  of 
Israel,  and  his  Redeemer  the  Lord  of  Hosts,  I  am  ihejirst^ 
and  I  am  the  last,  and  besides  me  there  is  no  God.  And 
who,  as  I,  shall  call,  and  shall  declare  it,  and  set  it  in  order 
for  me,  since  I  appoirUed  the  ancient  'people!  and  the  things 
that  are  coming,  and  shall  come,  let  them  show  unto  them. 
Who  hath  wrought  and  done  it,  calling  the  generations  from 
the  beginning?  I  the  Lord,  the  first,  and  with  the  last;  I 
am  He. I  David  testified  of  his  Son,  and  yet  his  Lord, 
Thou  wilt  not  leave  my  soul  in  the  grave,  neither  wilt  thou 
suffer  thy  Holy  One  to  see  corruption,^  Thou  hast  ascend¬ 
ed  on  high, II  &c.  To  the  prisoner  in  Patmos,  who  bare 
record  for  the  testimony  of  Jesus  Christ,  that  Holy  One 
appeared  after  his  ascension ;  and  these  were  the  first 
words,  like  those  of  a  great  trumpet,  that  burst  on  the  apos¬ 
tle’s  ear  :  “  I  am  Alpha  and  Omega,  the  first  and  the  last.”T[ 
He  that  is  holy.  He  that  is  true.  He  that  is  the  beginning 
and  the  end,**  He  that  hath  the  ke'y  of  David,  He  that  open- 
eth  and  no^an  shutteth,  and  shutteth  and  no  man  openeth, 
thus  uttered  the  first  word  of  his  Revelation,  repeating  what 
the  prophet  had  testified  of  him  as  the  King  and  the  Re 
deemer  of  Israel,  “  I  am  the  first  and  the  last.” 

He  is  the  first.  The  same  apostle  testifies  of  him,  “In 
the  beginning  was  the  Word,  and  the  Word  was  with  God, 
and  the  Word  was  God.”  When  the  everlasting  covenant 
had  its  origin,  the  Word  of  the  Lord  came  to  Abraham, 
saying,  I  am  thy  shield  and  thy  exceeding  great  reward. 
Ere  Jacob’s  name  was  changed  to  Israel,  there  wrestled 
with  him  a  man  till  the  breaking  of  the  day.  And  of  that 
wrestling  it  is  written.  By  his  strength  he  had  power  with 
us ;  he  had  power  with  God,  and  prevailed  ;  as  it  is  also 
said.  In  Bethel  he  spake  with  us,  even  the  Lord  God  of 
Hosts  ;  the  Lord  is  his  memorial. ft  When  Israel  first  en¬ 
tered  into  Canaan,  at  the  time  when  the  manna  ceased, 
and  when  they  did  first  eat  the  fruit  of  the  land,  there  stood 

+  Isa.,  viii.,  20.  t  Ibid.,  ili.,  4  ;  xliv.,  6,  7. 

II  Ibid.,  Ixviii.,  18.  %  Rev.,  i.,  II. 

tt  Hos.,  xii.,  5, 


*  Jer.,  xxxiii.,  24-26. 
^  Psalm  xvi.,  10. 

**  Rev.,  i.,  11, 


CONCERNING  THE  LAND. 


59 


a  man  over  against  Joshua  with  a  drawn  sword  in  his  hand, 
and  Joshua  went  unto  him,  and  said  unto  him,  Art  thou  for  us 
or  for  our  adversaries  ?  And  he  said,  Nay  ;  but  as  the  captain 
of  the  Lord’s  host  am  I  now  come.  And  Joshua  fell  on  his 
face  to  the  earth,  and  did  worship.*  When,  in  the  fulness 
of  time,  the  new  and  everlasting  covenant  was  first  brought 
in,  the  Word  was  made  flesh  and  dwelt  among  iis.f  But 
He  is  the  last  as  well  as  the  first,  the  end  no  less  than 
the  beginning.  When  that  covenant  of  mercy  and  of  peace 
shall  at  last  and  forever  be  established  with  the  house  of 
Israel  and  with  the  house  of  Judah,  the  prophetic  testimony, 
no  longer  shadowed  by  a  veil  on  the  mind  of  Gentile  or  of 
Jew,  shall  be  read  of  all  men,  even  as  it  is  written  :  “  Be¬ 
hold,  the  days  come  that  1  will  perform  that  good  thing 
which  I  have  promised  unto  the  house  of  Israel,  and  to  the 
house  of  Judah.  In  those  days,  and  at  that  time.,  will  I 
cause  the  Branch  of  righteousness  to  grow  up  unto  David; 
and  He  shall  execute  judgment  and  righteousness  in  the 
land.  In  those  days  shall  Judah  be  saved,  and  Jerusalem 
shall  dwell  safely;  and  this  is  the  name  wherewith  He 
shall  be  called,  the  Lord  (Jehovah)  our  Righteousness,^ 
&c.  I  w'ill  gather  the  remnant  of  my  flock  out  of  all 
countries  whither  I  have  driven  them,  and  will  bring  them 
again  to  their  folds,  and  they  shall  be  fruitful  and  increase. 
Behold,  the  days  come,  saith  the  Lord,  that  I  wdll  raise 
unto  David  a  righteous  Branch,  and  a  king  shall  reign  and 
prosper,  and  shall  execute  judgment  and  justice  in  the  earth. 
In  his  days  Judah  shall  be  saved,  and  Israel  shall  dwell 
safely ;  and  this  is  the  name  whereby  He  shall  be  called, 
The  Lord  our  Righteousness.  Therefore,  behold  the 
days  come,  saith  the  Lord,  that  they  shall  no  more  say, 
The  Lord  liveth  which  brought  up  the  children  of  Israel 
out  of  the  land  of  Egypt.  But  the  Lord  liveth  which 
brought  up,  and  which  led  the  seed  of  the  house  of  Israel 
out  of  the  north  country,  and  from  all  the  countries  whither 
I  had  driven  them  ;  and  they  shall  dwell  in  their  own 
land.”^  In  the  same  chapter,  it  is  said  by  the  prophet  who 
testifies  of  these  things.  He  that  hath  ray  word,  let  him 
speak  my  w'ord  faithfully.  What  is  the  chaff  to  the  wheat  1 
saith  the  Lord.  Is  not  my  word  like  a  fire  ?  saith  the 
Lord  ;  and  like  a  hammer,  that  breaketh  the  rock  in  pieces  ? 


*  Josh.,  V.,  13,  14. 
t  J«r.,  xxxiii.,  14,  16. 


t  John,  i.,  1. 
Vtbid.,  xziii.,  3-S, 


60 


THE  BOUNDARIES  OF 


Thus  shall  ye  say  every  one  to  his  neighbour,  and  every 
one  to  his  brother,  What  hath  the  Lord  spoken  1* 

Such  an  injunction  has  only  to  be  regarded,* that  the  per¬ 
petuity  of  the  covenant  of  the  Lord  with  Abraham  concern¬ 
ing  the  land  may  be  seen.  But  it  is  no  less  requisite  in  re¬ 
gard  to  our  next  inquiry  than  the  present.  And  as  the  last 
proof  which  may  here  be  given  that  the  covenant  still  stands, 
it  may  be  conclusive  to  hear  what  the  Lord  did  speak  con¬ 
cerning  the  inheritance  of  Israel,  in  anticipation  of  those 
days  when  it  shall  be  apportioned  in  a  manner  altogether 
new  amonor  all  the  tribes,  at  a  time  when  Israel  was  out- 
cast  in  Assyria,  and  Judah  captive  in  Babylon,  and  when 
they  had  far  less  liberty  than  they  have  now  to  return  to 
their  own  land.  “  Thus  saith  the  Lord  God,  This  shall  be 
the  border  w^hereby  ye  shall  inherit  the  land,  according  to 
the  twelve  tribes  of  Israel.  And  ye  shall  inherit  it  one  as 
well  as  another,  concerning  the  which  I  lifted  up  my  hand 
to  give  it  unto  your  fathers.”! 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE  BOUNDARIES,  OR  BORDERS  OF  THE  LAND,  GIVEN  BY 
COVENANT  TO  THE  ISRAELITES,  AS  DEFINED  IN  SCRIP¬ 
TURE. 

“  A  good  land  and  a  large.” — Exod.,  iii.,  6. 

SECTION  1. 

Abraham,  obedient  to  the  word  of  the  Lord,  having  left 
his  country,  his  kindred,  and  his  father’s  house,  went  from 
Haran  to  Canaan.  Having  entered  it,  not  knowing  whither 
he  was  to  go,  or  where  he  was  to  take  up  even  a  temporary 
abode,  he  continued  his  journey,  and  passed  through  the 
land  unto  the  place  of  Sichem,  unto  the  plain  of  Moreh. 
There  “  the  Lord  appeared  unto  him  and  said.  Unto  thy 
seed  will  I  give  this  land.”f  The  first  act  of  Abraham  was 
to  build  there  an  altar  unto  the  Lord,  who  appeared  unto 
him.  From  thence,  no  longer  journeying  onward,  he  re¬ 
moved  unto  a  mountain  on  the  east  of  Bethel  ;  and  there, 

*  Jer.>  xxiii.,  28,  29,  37.  t  Ezek.,  xlvil.,  13,  14.  t  Gen.,  xij.,  7. 


THE  PROMISED  LAND. 


61 


as  we  read  for  the  first  time  since  he  left  his  father’s  house, 
he  “  pitched  his  tent,”  having  Bethel  on  the  west,  and  Hai 
on  the  east ;  and  though  he  had  no  city  or  house  to  dwell 
in,  “  he  built  an  altar  unto  the  Lord,  and  called  on  the  name 
of  the  Lord.”*  On  the  plain  of  Moreh,  where  his  journey 
from  his  fatherland  was  stayed,  the  first  promise  was  given 
him  of  another  land  unto  his  seed,  even  that  to  which  he 
had  come  at  the  command  of  the  Lord.  That  promise  was 
renewed,  after  his  return  from  Egypt,  when  he  had  come 
again  unto  “  the  place  where  his  tent  had  been  placed  at  the 
beginning,  unto  the  place  of  the  altar  which  he  had  made 
there  a,t  the  first.”  Appearing  to  him  there,  not  on  the  plain 
of  Moreh,  but  upon  a  mountain  east  of  Bethel,  from  whence 
the  land,  afterward  called  Holy,  stretched  on  every  side  to 
the  farthest  extent  of  view,  “  the  Lord  said  unto  Abram,  Lifl 
up  now  thine  eyes,  and  took  from  the  place  where  thou  art, 
nortfmard,  and  southward,  and  eastward,  and  westward  :  for 
all  the  land  which  thou  seest,  to  thee  will  1  give  it,  and  to  thy 
seed  forever.  Arise,  walk  through  the  land  in  the  length  of 
it,  and  in  the  breadth  of  it ;  for  I  will  give  it  unto  thee'f 
On  so  elevated  a  site,  and  in  so  pure  an  atmosphere  as  that 
of  the  land  of  Canaan,  places  far  distant  seem  comparative¬ 
ly  near,  and  a  large  territory  is  encircled  within  range  of 
view.  But  nowhere,  on  any  side,  could  the  patriarch  see  a 
single  spot,  though  the  peak  of  a  far-distant  mountain,  that 
formed  not  a  portion  of  the  land  given  by  that  word  to  him 
and  to  his  seed  forever.  The  Canaanite  and  the  Perizzite 
then  dwelt  in  the  immediately  circumjacent  lands,  but  his 
eye  could  not  reach  to  other  regions,  as  yet  to  himself  un¬ 
known  ;  and  he  was  commanded  to  walk  through  the  land 
in  its  length  and  in  its  breadth,  as  his  own  by  the  promise 
of  the  Lord,  whose  voice  he  had  obeyed  in  coming  forth 
from  Ur  of  the  Chaldees,  never  to  return.  The  Lord  had 
promised  to  show  him  the  land  whither  He  would  have  him 
to  go ;  and  now  He  gave  that  land  in  all  its  extent  to  him 
and  to  his  seed  forever. 

Again,  still  more  specifically  and  extensively,  and  farther 
than  the  eye  of  man  could  any  where  reach  or  circumscribe, 
the  already  repeated  promises  were  confirmed  by  a  cove¬ 
nant,  at  the  time  when  the  Lord  announced  to  the  aged  pa¬ 
triarch  that  He  would  give  unto  him  a  son  for  his  heir,  the 
heir — no  less  than  the  land — oi  promise.  Abraham  believed 

*  Geru,  T.,  8.  t  Ibid.,  xiii.,  14, 15,  17. 

F 


62 


THE  BOUNDARIES  OF 


in  the  Lord,  and  He  counted  it  to  him  for  righteousness ; 
and  the  land,  no  longer  undefined,  was  marked  out  more 
clearly  and  largely  by  the  word  of  the  Lord,  than  before  it 
had  been  by  the  eye  of  the  houseless  stranger  to  whom  He 
gave  it.  With  no  stinted  bounds  assigned,  it  was  a  boon, 
rich  and  large,  worthy  of  the  Lord  of  the  whole  earth  to 
give  to  Abraham  his  servant,  and  as  such,  his  friend.  “  In 
the  same  day  the  Lord  made  a  covenant  with  Abram,  say¬ 
ing,  Vnlo  thy  seed  have  I  given  this  land,  from  the  River  of 
Egypt  unto  the  great  river,  the  River  Euphrates :  the  Ken- 
ites,  and  the  Kcnizzites,  and  the  Kadmonites,  and  the  Hit- 
tites,  and  the  Perizzites,  and  the  Rephaims,  and  the  Amorites, 
and  the  Canaaniles,  and  the  Girgashites,  and  the  Jehusites.''*" 
All  the  countries  possessed  by  these  various  inhabitants 
were  given  unto  the  seed  of  Abraham  ;  and  while  the  places 
in  which  some  of  these  nations  dwelt  might  in  after  ages 
be  unknown,  the  farthest  borders  of  the  inheritance  were 
named,  and  every  intermediate  region  was  included  in  the 
land  of  promise.  Abraham  had  not  a  child,  nor  a  foot  of 
ground.  He  believed  in  the  Lord,  and  trusted  in  Him  as 
his  portion.  Lest  the  King  of  Sodom  should  say  that  he 
had  made  Abraham  rich,  the  faithful  patriarch,  appealing  to 
the  Most  High  God,  the  possessor  of  heaven  and  earth,  re¬ 
fused  to  take  from  a  thread  even  to  a  shoe-latchet  of  any¬ 
thing  that  was  his,t  though  he  might  have  retained  the 
spoils  which  he  had  retaken  from  the  kings  he  had  van¬ 
quished,  and  which  were  freely  offered  him.  He  continued 
a  stranger  and  sojourner  in  the  land,  which  in  faith  he  al¬ 
ready  held  as  his  own,  and  the  inheritance  of  his  seed  for¬ 
ever,  from  the  River  of  Egypt  to  the  River  Euphrates. 

The  covenant  with  Abraham  had  no  terms  but  those  of 
a  free  and  a  full  gift :  Unto  thee  and  to  thy  seed  vnll  I  give 
this  land,  from  the  River  of  Egypt  to  the  River  Euphrates. 
There  is  no  restriction,  nor  condition,  nor  reservation  what¬ 
ever  ;  nor  is  there  any  exclusion  even  of  a  foot-breadth  of 
the  wide-extended  region  that  lies  between  these  far-separ¬ 
ated  rivers.  Such  is  the  covenant  of  the  Lord  with  Abra¬ 
ham  concerning  the  inheritance — the  land  which  He  lifted 
up  his  hand  to  give  unto  the  fathers. 

The  same  covenant  was  renewed,  alike  unconditionally, 
in  all  its  freeness  and  in  all  its  fulness,  to  Isaac  and  to  Ja¬ 
cob,  the  heirs  with  him  of  the  same  promise.  And  uniformly 

*  Gen.,  XV.,  18-23.  t  Ibid.,  xiv.,  23. 


THE  PROMISED  LAND. 


63 


too,  when  renewed  with  them,  as  when  made  with  Abra¬ 
ham,  the  covenant  of  the  Lord — comprehensive  as  that  of 
the  God  of  the  whole  earth,  who  had  called  Abraham  in  or¬ 
der  to  the  final  execution  of  his  purposes  of  grace  and  mer¬ 
cy,  not  to  one  nation  only,  but  to  all — associated  with  the 
gift  of  the  land  in  its  fullest  extent  to  their  seed,  a  Messing 
in  their  seed  to  all  the  families  of  the  earth. 

Unto  Isaac  the  Lord  said,  “  Unto  thee  and  unto  thv  seed 
will  1  give  all  these  countries ;  and  I  will  perform  the  oath 
which  I  sware  unto  Abraham  thy  father :  and  I  will  make 
thy  seed  to  multiply  as  the  stars  of  heaven,  and  will  give 
unto  thy  seed  all  these  countries  ;  and  in  thy  seed  shall  all 
the  nations  of  the  earth  he  blessed ;  because  that  Abraham 
obeyed  my  voice,  and  kept  my  charge,  my  commandments, 
my  statutes,  and  my  laws.”*  Abraham  believed  and  obey¬ 
ed  ;  and  Isaac,  though  famine  prevailed,  sojourned  in  the 
land  at  the*  word  of  the  Lord. 

Again,  when  the  covenant  concerning  the  land  was  con¬ 
firmed  to  Jacob  for  a  law,  and  to  Israel  for  an  everlasting 
covenant,  the  assigned  extent  of  the  inheritance  was  large 
and  undiminished ;  and  the  same  blessing  as  before,  and 
from  the  same  source,  was  ultimately  destined  to  be  shed 
abroad  throughout  the  world,  till  it  should  reach  all  the  fam¬ 
ilies  of  men  from  the  seed  of  Jacob.  The  Lord  said  unto 
the  father  of  all  the  tribes  of  Israel,  “  I  am  the  Lord  God  of 
Abraham  thy  father,  and  the  God  of  Isaac  :  the  land  where¬ 
on  thou  liest,  to  thee  will  I  give  it,  and  to  thy  seed ;  and  thy 
seed  shall  be  as  the  dust  of  the  earth,  and  thou  shall  spread 
abroad  to  the  west  and  to  the  east,  and  to  the  north  and  to  the 
south,  and  in  thee  and  in  thy  seed  shall  all  the  families  of  the 
earth  be  blessed?'’^  “  The  land  which  I  gave  Abraham  and 
IsaaCy  to  thee  will  I  give  it,  and  to  thy  seed  after  thee  will 
I  give  the  land.”J 

When  the  Lord  first  appeared  unto  Moses,  with  the  de¬ 
clared  purpose  of  fulfilling  his  promise,  as  the  God  of  Abra¬ 
ham,  of  Isaac,  and  of  Jacob,  He  said,  “  I  am  come  down  to 
deliver  my  people,  and  to  bring  them  up  out  of  the  land  of 
Egypt,  and  to  bring  them  unto  a  good  land  and  a  large. 
And  before  any  part  of  their  inheritance  passed  into  the 
possession  of  the  children  of  Israel,  the  limits  of  the  land 
were  farther  defined.  “  By  little  and  by  little  I  will  drive 


*  Gen.,  xxvi.,  3-5. 
tExod.,xxxv.,  12. 


t  Ibid.,  xxviii.,  1,  3,  14. 
Ibid.,  iii.,  8. 


64 


THE  BOUNDARIES  OT 


them  out  before  thee,  until  thou  be  increased,  and  inherit 
the  land.  And  I  will  set  thy  bounds  by  the  Red  Sea,  even 
unto  the  sea  of  the  Philistines,  and  from  the  desert  unto  the 
river  ;  for  I  will  deliver  the  inhabitants  of  the  land  into 
your  hand,  and  thou  shalt  drive  them  out  before  thee.  Thou 
shalt  make  no  covenant  with  them,  nor  with  their  gods. 
They  shall  not  dwell  in  the  land,  lest  they  make  thee  sin 
against  me.”*  “  If  ye  shall  diligently  keep  all  these  com¬ 

mandments  which  I  command  you,  to  do  them,  to  love  the 
Lord  your  God,  to  walk  in  all  his  ways,  and  to  cleave  unto 
him,  then  will  the  Lord  drive  out  all  those  nations  from  be¬ 
fore  you,  and  ye  shall  possess  greater  nations  and  mightier 
than  yourselves.  Every  place  whereon  the  soles  of  your  feet 
shall  tread  shall  be  yours  ;  from  the  wilderness  and  Lebanon, 
from  the  river,  the  River  Euphrates,  even  unto  the  uttermost 
sea  shall  your  coast  be.  There  shall  no  man  be  able  to 
stand  before  you  ;  for  the  liOrd  your  God  shall  lay  the  fear 
of  you  and  the  dread  of  you  upon  all  the  land  that  ye  shall 
tread  upon,  as  He  hath  said  unto  you.  Behold,  I  set  before 
you  this  day  a  blessing  and  a  curse,”f  &;c. 

After  the  tribes  of  Reuben  and  of  Gad,  and  the  half  tribe 
of  Manasseh,  had  received  their  inheritance  on  the  east  of 
the  Jordan,  the  land  of  Canaan  was  assigned  to  the  remain¬ 
ing  nine  tribes  and  a  half.  Its  borders,  or  those  of  the  Is- 
raelitish  possessions  which  were  then  farther  allocated,  as 
specified  in  the  thirty-fourth  chapter  of  Numbers,  do  not  in¬ 
clude,  as  sometimes  represented,  the  whole  of  the  land  of 
Israel,  for  they  passed  not  the  Jordan,  instead  of  reaching 
to  the  Euphrates.  The  western,  and  partly  the  southern 
and  northern  borders  of  the  land  are  defined,  but  not  the 
eastern,  except  as  marking  the  bounds  between  those  who 
then  had,  and  those  of  their  brethren  who  had  not  received 
their  inheritance.  On  the  south,  the  land  of  Edom  was 
also  excluded,  as  “  the  brotherly  covenant”  was  not  to  be 
broken.  But  on  the  north,  there  was  no  such  nor  any  other 
cause  of  limitation,  and  they  were  thus  left  free  to  reach 
the  utmost  bounds  assigned  to  Israel.  What  these  on  every 
side  were,  the  irrepealable  charter,  as  written  in  the  Scrip¬ 
tures,  alone  can  determine. 

“  As  for  the  western  border, ye  shall  have  the  great  sea  for 
a  border :  this  shall  be  your  west  border.  This  shall  be  your 
north  border ;  from  the  great  sea  ye  shall  point  out  for  you 

*  Exod.,  xxiii.,  30-33.  t  Deut.,  xi.,  22-26. 


THE  PROMISED  LAND. 


65 


Mount  Hot  (hor-Jia-hor).  From  Mount  Hor  ye  shall  point 
out  your  border  unto  the  entrance  of  Hamath  ;  and  the  gohigs 
forth  of  the  border  shall  be  to  Zedad.  And  the  border  shall 
go  on  to  Zi.phron,  and  the  goings  out  of  it  shall  he  at  Hazar- 
enan  :  this  shall  be  your  north  border.  And  ye  shall  point 
out  your  east  border  from  Hazar-enan  to  Shephan  ;  and  the 
coast  shall  go  down  from  Shephan  to  Riblah,  on  the  east  side 
of  Ain, &c. 

Again,  when  all  these  tribes  had  dwelt  in  Canaan  till 
Joshua  was  old  and  stricken  in  years,  the  land  that  remained 
to  be  possessed  was  defined,  according  to  the  word  of  the 
Lord,  who  had  promised  it  to  their  fathers  ;  and  the  defini¬ 
tions  of  these  territories  show,  as  the  Lord  himself  declared, 
that  VERY  MUCH  LAND  pertained  by  covenanted  right  to  the 
seed  of  Jacob,  besides  that  which  they  inherited  in  the  days 
of  Joshua.f 

“  This  is  the  land  that  yet  remaineth :  all  the  borders  of 
the  Philistines,  and  all  Geshuri,yrowi  Sihor,  which  is  before 
Egypt,  even  unto  the  borders  of  Ekron  northward,  which  is 
counted  to  the  Canaanite  :  five  lords  of  the  Philistines  ;  the 
Gazathites,  and  the  Ashdothites,  the  Eshkalonites,  the  Gil- 
tites,  and  the  Ekronites  ;  also  the  Avites.  From  the  south, 
all  the  land  of  the  Canaanites,  and  Mearah  that  is  beside  the 
Sidonians,  unto  Aphek,  to  the  borders  of  the  Amorites  :  and 
all  the  land  of  the  Giblites,  and  all  Lebanon  towards  the  sun¬ 
rising,  from  Baal-gad  under  Mount  Hermon,  unto  the  enter- 
ing  into  Hamath  ;  all  the  inhabitants  of  the  hill-country,  from 
Lebanon  unto  Misrephoth-maim,  and  all  the  Sidonians,  them 
will  I  drive  out  before  the  children  of  Israel ;  only  divide 
thou  it  by  lot  unto  the  Israelites  for  an  inheritance,  as  I  have 
commanded  thee.”:{; 

But  the  borders  of  the  land,  which  was  finally  and  forever 
to  be  inherited  by  the  twelve  tribes  of  Israel,  were  as  ex¬ 
pressly  and  explicitly  defined,  after  the  last  of  them  had 
been  plucked  from  off  it,  and  while  Judah  was  captive  in 
Babylon,  and  Ephraim  in  Assyria,  as  they  were  thus  marked 
out  by  the  word  of  the  Lord  to  Joshua,  when  all  the  seed 
of  Jacob  dwelt  in  Canaan  ;  and  when  the  large  portion  that 
remained  was  divided  among  them  by  lot,  as  if  they  had 
held  it  in  actual  possession,  while  yet  faithful  to  the  cove¬ 
nant  of  their  God,  “  the  land  was  subdued  before  them.” 
Moses,  a  wanderer  in  the  wilderness,  and  Ezekiel,  an  exile 

*  Numb.,  xxxiv,,  6-11.  t  Josh.,  xiii.,  1.  t  Ibid.,  2-6. 

F  2 


/ 


66 


THE  BOUNDARIES  OF 


in  Chaldea,  were  alike  privileged  to  record  the  sure  word  of 
a  covenant-keeping  God,  by  wliich  the  borders  of  the  in¬ 
heritance  are  defined,  and  the  perpetuity  of  the  covenant 
declared ;  whether,  in  the  one  case,  its  truth  had,  for  the 
first  time,  to  be  tried,  or  in  the  other,  it  seemed  to  have 
ceased  forever,  when  all  the  tribes  of  Israel  were  exiled 
bondsmen,  in  countries  far  distant  from  Jerusalem  and  Sa¬ 
maria. 

“  Thus  saith  the  Lord  God,  This  shall  be  the  border 
whereby  ye  shall  inherit  the  land  according  to  the  twelve 
tribes  of  Israel ;  Joseph  shall  have  two  portions.  And  ye 
shall  inherit  it  one  as  well  as  another  ;  concerning  the  which 
I  lifted  up  my  hand  to  give  it  unto  your  fathers :  and  this 
land  shall  fall  to  you  for  inheritance.  And  this  shall  be  the 
border  of  the  land  towards  the  north  side,  from  the  great  sea, 
the  way  of  Hethlon,  as  men  go  to  Zedad ;  Hamath,  Bero- 
thah,  Sibraim,  which  is  between  the  border  of  Damascus 
and  the  border  of  Hamath  ;  Hazar-hatlicon,  which  is  by  the 
coast  of  Hauran.  And  the  border  from  the  sea  shall  be 
Hazar-enan,  the  border  of  Damascus,  and  the  north  north¬ 
ward,  and  the  border  of  Hamath.  And  this  is  the  north 
side.  And  the  east  side  ye  shall  measure  from  Hauran,  and 
from  Damascus,  and  from  Gilead,  and  from  the  land  of  Is¬ 
rael  by  Jordan, yVom  the  border  unto  the  east  sea.  And  this 
is  the  east  side.  And  the  south  side  southward,  from  Ta¬ 
mar  to  the  waters  of  strife  in  Kadesh,  the  river  to  the  great 
sea.  And  this  is  the  south  side  southward.  The  west  side 
also  shall  be  the  great  sea  from  the  border,  till  a  man  come 
over  against  Hamath,  This  is  the  west  side.  So  shall  ye 
divide  this  land  according  to  the  tribes  of  Israel.  Now 
these  are  the  names  of  the  tribes.  From  the  north  end  to 
the  coast  of  the  way  of  Hethlon,  as  one  goeth  to  Hamath, 
Hazar-enan,  the  border  of  Damascus  northward,  to  the  coast 
of  Hamath  (for  these  are  his  sides  east  and  west),  a  portion 
for  Dan.  And  by  the  border  of  Dan,  from  the  east  side 
unto  the  west  side,  a  portion  for  Asher,”*  &c. 

The  territory,  secured  by  such  charters  to  Israel,  is  not 
undefined,  and  cannot  be  forever  doubtful.  Its  peculiar  po¬ 
sition,  in  relation  to  the  other  kingdoms  of  the  world,  as 
well  as  its  peculiar  features,  and  qualities,  or  capabilities, 
as  anciently  exemplified,  or  yet  more  fully  to  be  developed, 
require  to  be  separately  considered ;  but  these  scriptural 

*  Ezek.,  xlvii.,  13-23;  xlviii.,  1. 


THE  PROMISED  LAND. 


67 


records  at  once  attest  that  its  bounds  are  ample,  and  that  it 
is  a  large^  as  it  will  also  be  sliown  in  the  sequel  that  it  is  a 
goodly  land.  The  terms  of  the  covenant,  were  it  only  man’s, 
are  not  to  be  tampered  with,  nor  is  their  plain  significancy 
to  be  at  all  abated.  That  of  the  Lord  is  not  to  be  explained 
away  in  any  manner  that  does  not  give  a  full  meaning  to 
every  word  of  promise  it  contains.  It  is  not  needful,  and 
it  is  not  meet  to  qualify  the  words  of  the  Holy  One  of  Isra¬ 
el,  whose  promises  to  the  fathers  cannot  fail.  His  word 
has  its  vindication  in  itself — its  infallible  certainty  in  his 
own  Almighty  power.  He  who  set  the  bounds  of  the  peo¬ 
ple  according  to  the  number  of  the  children  of  Israel,  at  the 
time  when  He  divided  among  the  nations  their  inheritance, 
and  separated  the  sons  of  Adam,  or  the  whole  race  of  man, 
fixed  such  borders  of  the  inheritance  of  Israel  as  best  befit 
an  everlasting  possession,  and  such  as,  though  questioned 
or  displaced  in  ages  past,  shall  assuredly  be  knowm  of  all 
men  when  the  covenant  shall  be  fulfilled,  and  the  whole 
earth  shall  be  filled  with  his  glory. 

From  the  new  and  final  division  among  all  the  tribes  of 
Israel,  as  described  by  Ezekiel,  whereby  they  shall  inherit 
the  land,  concerning  the  which  the  Lord  lifted  up  his  hand  to 
give  it  unto  their  fathers,  it  is  perfectly  manifest,  as  speci¬ 
fied  in  every  instance,  that  the  borders  of  each  tribe  shall  be 
from  the  east  side  unto  the  west  side,  or  in  parallel  lines 
slretchiog  throughout  the  whole  “  breadth  of  Immanuel’s 
land.”  And  thus — in  respect  to  the  extreme  boundaries, 
comprehending  them  all — from  the  River  of  Egypt  to  the 
River  Euphrates,  setting  the  bounds  by  the  Red  Sea  on  the 
south,  and  from  the  River  Euphrates  to  the  great  sea,  or  the 
Mediterranean,  on  the  north,  including  all  Lebanon,  and  all 
the  hill-country  to  the  entrance  into  Hamath  with  the  Eu¬ 
phrates  on  the  east,  from  the  border  to  the  east  sea,  and  on 
the  west,  from  the  border  to  the  River  of  Egypt,  and  from 
thence  along  the  Mediterranean  coast  to  the  entrance  into 
Hamath,  lines  have  been  drawn  and  borders  have  been  set, 
which,  if  looked  at  with  a  single  eye,  might  place  the  land 
in  visible  perspective  before  us,  as  the  Lord  espied  it  for 
the  people  whom  He  created  for  his  glory,  and  to  whom 
He  gave  it  by  an  everlasting  covenant,  which  He  will  yet 
remember. 

Though  thus  definitely  marked,  “  the  promised  land”  has 
often  been  measured  by  the  far  narrower  bounds  which  Is- 


68 


THE  BOUNDARIES  OF 


rael  of  old  actually  possessed.  Error  is  congenial  to  error, 
as  truth  to  truth.  While  the  perpetuity  of  the  covenant 
concerning  the  land  has  been  disregarded,  the  extent  of  the 
inheritance  has  shrivelled  irHo  mean  dimensions.  As  if  the 
kingdom  were  never  to  be  restored  to  Israel,  and  the  per¬ 
petual  covenant  had  ceased  forever,  many  critics  and  com¬ 
mentators,  in  dealing  with  the  word  that  abideth  forever, 
have  set  themselves  to  a  merely  antiquarian  task,  and  have 
sought  rather  to  fix  the  borders  of  the  promised  land  by  the 
limited  region  which  the  Israelites  occupied  of  old,  than  to 
measure  the  guarantied  inheritance  itself  by  the  borders 
which  the  Lord  of  the  whole  earth  assigned  it.  The  bor¬ 
ders,  as  prescribed,  can  alone  rightfully  determine  what  the 
extent  of  the  land  is  which  they  bound  and  comprehend. 
They  alone  fix  what  the  everlasting  possession  shall  be.  But 
they  are  not  to  be  drawn  from  their  true  stations  and  trans- 
ported  from  them,  in  order  to  form  an  imaginary  boundary 
around  a  temporary  and  partial  possession,  which  in  reality 
never  reached  them.  The  borders  must  determine  the 
promised  land,  and  not  the  land,  as  actually  possessed,  the 
borders.  The  territory  solely  possessed  as  their  own,  by  a 
people  faithless  to  their  God,  who  broke  the  covenant  into 
which  they  had  entered  with  Him,  does  not  necessarily 
form  the  measure  of  the  whole  inheritance  promised  to  their 
fathers,  and  which  shall  be  finally  bestowed  upon  their 
faithful  offspring,  any  more  than  the  short  time,  according  to 
the  plaint  of  Isaiah,  during  w’hich  they  held  that  portion  of 
it  as  their  own,  limited  the  term  of  the  everlasting  covenant 
of  unchangeable  Jehovah.  The  time  has  not  come,  and 
never  shall,  till  the  sun  and  moon  be  no  more,  when  they 
shall  cease  to  be  a  people,  and  their  name  and  nation  fail 
before  the  Lord.  More  numerous  than  they  were  when 
they  were  rooted  out  of  their  father’s  land,  they  are  still 
looking  in  millions  to  their  return.  And  the  sole  question 
here  is,  not  What  were  the  limits  of  the  land  anciently  oc- 
cupied  by  their  race  1  but  What  is  the  land,  as  defined  in 
the  Word  of  God,  in  its  length  and  in  its  breadth,  concern¬ 
ing  which  the  Lord  lifted  up  his  hand  to  their  fathers,  as 
decreed  from  the  beginning,  and  as  it  shall  yet  fall  to  the 
twelve  tribes  of  Israel  for  their  inheritance  ? 

The  investigation  is  important,  not  as  limited  merely  to 
the  illustration  of  the  ancient,  though  scriptural,  history  of 
a  rebellious  race — for  such,  save  only  by  a  temporary  and 


THE  PROMISED  LAND. 


69 


often  partial  suspense,  they  were — but  as  pertaining  to  the 
immutability  of  the  covenatit,  and  of  the  words  of  promise  it 
contains,  by  which  the  extent  of  Israel’s  inheritance — the 
gift  of  God  to  the  patriarchs  and  to  their  seed — is  defined  ; 
and  as  thereby  pertaining,  too,  to  the  future  history  of  the 
world,  and  to  the  high  destiny  of  Israel,  when  the  covenant 
shall,  in  its  full  extent,  be  realized  at  last,  and  the  large  and 
goodly  land,  as  the  Lord  himself  has  set  its  bounds,  shall, 
according  to  his  everlasting  covenant,  be  their  everlasting  'pos¬ 
session. 

Though  often  held  to  be  identical,  it  is  abundantly  plain 
that  the  land  possessed  by  the  Israelites  in  ancient  times 
formed  but  a  portion  of  the  promised  inheritance.  The 
covenant  was  made  with  Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob,  as  we 
have  seen,  on  absolutely  unconditional  and  unrestricted 
terms.  The  promises  were  Yea  and  Amen.  The  oath 
was  essentially  irrevocable.  The  arm  of  the  Almighty 
would  finally  effectuate  all  that  his  hand  had  been  lifted  up 
to  avouch  to  the  believing  patriarchs.  But  though  He  will 
never  draw  back  his  covenant,  it  must  be  ever  known  as 
that  of  a  holy,  as  of  a  faithful  God.  Before  his  people  en¬ 
tered  into  Canaan,  nay,  before  they  had  reached  either  of 
the  northern  points  of  the  Red  Sea,  by  which  the  bounds 
of  their  inheritance  were  set — though  they  had  passed  that 
sea  itself  by  a  miracle  as  on  dry  ground — the  law  was  given 
in  thunder,  and  in  lightning,  and  in  fire  from  Sinai.  It  was 
added  by  reason  of  transgression  long  after  the  promise  had 
been  made.  The  condition  of  obedience  was  annexed  to 
the  covenant  made  with  the  Israelites  ;  and  on  that  depend¬ 
ed  not  only  the  extent  of  the  inheritance  they  would  occu¬ 
py,  but,  save  for  the  forbearance  and  long-suffering  patience 
of  their  God,  the  possession  of  any  part  of  it,  even  for  a 
single  day.  If  righteousness  had  come  by  the  law  to  sinful 
man,  then  the  borders  of  Israel  of  old  might  have  been  iden¬ 
tical  with  the  bounds  of  their  inheritance  as  set  down  in 
the  covenant.  Or  if  a  priesthood,  with  all  its  paraphernalia, 
or,  as  the  Gospel  speaks,  heggarhj  elements,  could  have 
drawn  from  bulls  and  goats  blood  efficacious  for  the  atone- 
i;  ment  of  sin,  the  transgressors  of  Israel  might  have  broken 
•  the  covenant  and  have  kept  the  land.  But  explicit  truths 
of  the  Old  Testament,  as  well  as  fundamental  doctrines  of 
the  New,  are  overlooked  in  maintaining  that  the  covenant, 
even  as  respects  the  land,  was  fulfilled  in  all  its  extent  to 


70 


THE  BOUNDARIES  OF 


Israel  of  old.  The  law,  broken  and  imperfectly  obeyed, 
makes  nothing  perfect.  And  under  it  Israel  entered  into 
Canaan  ;  under  it  their  enemies,  though  idolaters,  were 
never  driven  out  wholly  before  them  ;  under  it  even  the  pro¬ 
verbial  extremities  or  borders  of  all  Israel  were  not  the  Red 
Sea,  nor  the  entrance  into  Hamath,  nor  yet  the  River  of 
Egypt  and  the  Euphrates,  but  Dan  and  Beersheba,  with 
comparatively  a  small  space  between  them  ;  under  it  the 
ten  tribes  were  carried  captives  into  Assyria,  and  Judah  and 
Benjamin  into  Babylon  ;  under  it,  though  not  forever,  the 
tabernacle  and  the  throne  of  David  fell ;  and  trusting  in  it, 
and  not  submitting  to  the  righteousness  that  is  of  faithj  the 
tribe  of  Judah,  which  remained  unbroken  and  retained  its 
lawgivers  till  Shiloh  came,  was  cut  olf ;  Jerusalem  was  laid 
even  with  the  ground,  and  the  Jews  dispersed  throughout 
all  countries  under  heaven.  The  law  was  broken  ;  the 
condition  of  the  Mosaic  covenant  was  not  kept ;  and  the 
land,  in  its  full  extent,  was  never  possessed  by  a  faithless 
people. 

Not  only  was  the  retention  of  the  land,  or  the  possession 
of  any  part  of  it,  expressly  conditional,  on  the  first  entrance 
of  tbe  Israelites  into  their  inheritance,  but  they  were  from 
the  first  as  expressly  precluded  from  occupying  as  their 
own  the  smallest  portion  of  the  territories  of  the  Edomites, 
Moabites,  or  Ammonites,  which  spread  over  an  ample  space. 
Yet  all  these  were  clearly  included  within  the  bounds  of  the 
everlasting  inheritance  of  Israel.  The  land  of  Ammon  lay 
on  the  opposite  side  of  the  valley  of  Jordan,  straight  over 
against  the  mountain  east  of  Bethel,  on  which  Abraham 
stood,  when  commanded  by  the  Lord  to  look  eastward,  as 
well  as  in  every  other  direction,  on  the  land  which  He 
gave  to  him  and  to  his  seed  forever.  The  mountains  of 
Moab  were  among  the  most  conspicuous  in  his  view.  And 
these  regions,  together  with  Mount  Seir,  unquestionably  lay 
to  the  north  of  the  Red  Sea,  the  west  of  the  Euphrates,  and 
the  east  of  the  River  of  Egypt,  and  were  thus  contained 
within  the  terms  of  the  covenant.  But,  though  the  iniquity 
of  the  Amorites  was  then  full,  the  time  was  not  come  when 
the  Moabites  and  Ammonites,  the  descendants  of  Lot,  the 
brother’s  son  of  Abraham,  or  the  Edomites,  descended  of 
Isaac,  were  to  be  dispossessed  of  their  inheritance,  and 
“the  brotherly  covenant”  was  not  to  be  broken  by  the  chil¬ 
dren  of  Israel.  It  is  as  clear  that  the  countries  in  which 


THE  PROMISED  LAND. 


71 


they  dwelt  were  excluded  from  the  ancient  land  of  Israel, 
of  which,  though  afterward  subjugated,  they  did  not  form  a 
part,  as  that  they  were  comprehended  within  the  borders 
specified  in  the  Abrahamic  covenant,  and  that  they  are  des¬ 
tined  to  form  part  of  the  inheritance  of  the  Israelites  on  their 
final  restoration. 

The  reader  will  at  once  perceive  how  different  is  the 
scriptural  record  concerning  them  respectively,  in  these 
different  circumstances  and  times. 

“  The  Lord  spake  unto  Moses,  Command  the  people, 
saying.  Ye  are  to  pass  through  the  coast  of  your  brethren, 
the  children  of  Esau,  which  dwell  in  Seir.  .  .  .  Meddle 
not  with  them  ;  for  I  will  not  give  you  of  their  land,  no,  not 
so  much  as  a  foot-breadth,  because  I  have  given  Mount 
Seir  unto  Esau  for  a  possession.*  .  .  .  Distress  not  the 
Moabites,  neither  contend  with  them  in  battle  ;  for  I  will 
not  give  thee  of  their  land  for  a  possession,  because  I  have 
given  Ar  unto  the  children  of  Lot  for  a  possession.!  .  .  . 
And  when  thou  comest  nigh  over  against  the  children  of 
Ammon,  distress  them  not,  nor  medcUe  with  them  ;  for  I 
will  not  give  thee  of  the  land  of  the  children  of  Ammon  any 
possession,  because  I  have  given  it  unto  the  children  of  Lot 
for  a  possession.”! 

But  when  Israel  had  compassed  Edom,  without  possess¬ 
ing  of  it  a  foot-breadth,  and  lay  encamped  in  the  plains  of 
Moab,  and  Balaam  was  brought  forth  by  a  heathen  king  to 
curse  Israel,  even  he  was  constrained  to  take  up  a  testi¬ 
mony  for  the  far-distant  times  when  there  should  be  no  re^ 
straints,  as  there  then  were,  on  the  full  completion  of  the 
covenant.  “  I  shall  see  him,  but  not  now  :  I  shall  behold 
him,  but  not  nigh  :  there  shall  come  a  star  out  of  Jacob,  and 
a  sceptre  shall  rise  out  of  Israel,  and  shall  smite  the  corners 
of  Moah  and  destroy  all  the  children  of  Sheth.  Edom  shall 
be  a  possession  ;  Seir  also  shall  be  a  possesion  for  his  ene¬ 
mies  ;  and  Israel  shall  do  valiantly.”^ 

The  prophets  of  Israel  speak  in  terms  alike  consonant 
with  the  covenant  with  Jacob,  in  looking  to  that  day  when 
the  root  of  Jesse  shall  stand  for  an  ensign  of  the  people  of 
Israel. 

“  He  shall  assemble  the  outcasts  of  Israel,  and  gather 
together  the  dispersed  of  Judah  from  the  four  quarters  of 
the  earth.  They  shall  spoil  them  of  the  east  together: 

*  Deut.,  ii.,  2-5.  t  Ibid.,  9.  t  Ibid.,  19.  ^  Nura.,  xxiv.,  17,  18. 


72 


THE  BOUNDARIES  OF 


they  shall  lay  their  hand  upon  Edom  and  Moab,  and  the 
children  of  Ammon  shall  obey  them,”*  &:c.  “In  that  day 
will  I  raise  up  the  tabernacle  of  David  that  is  fallen,  &c. 
That  they  may  possess  the  remnant  of  Edom,  and  of  all  the 
heathen,  that  are  called  by  my  name,  saith  the  Lord,  who 
doth  this.  And  I  will  plant  them  upon  their  land,  and  they 
shall  no  more  be  pulled  up  out  of  their  land  which  I  have 
given  them,  saith  the  Lord.”!  “  And  it  shall  be  said  in  that 
day,  Lo,  this  is  our  God  ;  we  have  waited  for  him,  and  He 
will  save  us.  For  in  this  mountain  shall  the  hand  of  the 
Lord  rest,  and  Moab  shall  be  trodden  down  under  him,  even 
as  straw  is  trodden  down  for  the  dunghill.  And  He  ^hall 
spread  forth  his  hands  in  the  midst  of  them,  as  he  that 
swimmeth  spreadeth  forth  his  hands  to  swim,”|  &c.  “  I 

will  bring  again  the  captivity  of  Moab  in  the  latter  day, 
saith  the  Lord.”^  “  I  will  bring  again  the  captivity  of  the 
children  of  Ammon,  saith  the  Lord.”!  “  The  remnant  of 
my  people  shall  possess  thejnT^  The  house  of  Jacob  shall 
be  a  fire,  and  the  house  of  Esau  for  stubble  ;  and  they  of 
the  south  shall  possess  the  mount  of  Esau.** 

It  is  not,  therefore,  a  theme  for  argumentation,  but  a 
Scriptural  truth  to  be  believed,  that,  were  it  in  this  single 
instance  alone,  the  borders  of  ancient  Israel  are  not  those 
of  the  covenanted  heritage  of  Jacob.  Edom,  Moab,  and 
Ammon,  excluded  in  the  one  case,  are  included  in  the 
other.  Yet  all  these,  though  a  hundred  and  fifty  miles 
intervened  between  their  extreme  boundaries,  were  but  a 
<»mall  part  of  that  large  portion  of  the  promised  inheritance 
which  never  ranked  of  old  in  the  land  of  Israel. 

The  condition  of  the  covenant  was  not  fulfilled  ;  and  be¬ 
sides  the  Edomites,  Moabites,  and  Ammonites,  who  had  a 
claim  on  the  forbearance  of  Israel,  more  numerous  enemies, 
who  had  none,  were  never  driven  out  before  them,  and  their 
lands  were  net’^r  left  for  the  occupancy  of  the  transgressors 
of  God’s  holy  law. 

Once,  indeed,  we  read  of  a  single,  or,  at  most,  a  second 
generation  that  held  undisturbed  and  unchallenged  posses¬ 
sion  of  the  land,  which  had  everyw'here  been  subdued  before 
them.  Israel  served  the  Lord  all  the  days  of  Joshua,  and  all 
the  days  of  the  elders  that  outlived  Joshua,  and  which  had 

*  Isa.,  xi.,  10,  14.  t  Amos,  ix.,  11,  12,  15.  t  Isa.,  xxv.,  9-11. 

i  Jer.,  xlviii.,  47.  Ij  Ibid.,  xlix.,  6.  IT  Zeph.,  ii.,  9. 

**  Obad.,  18,  19. 


THE  PROMISED  LAND. 


73 


Known  all  the  works  of  the  Lord  that  He  had  done  for  Israel* 
They  had  known  the  works  of  the  Lord,  and  they  believed  ; 
and  they  were  the  children  faith fal  Abraham.  And  to 
them  the  dying  Joshua  could  thus  make  his  last  appeal  ; 

Behold,  this  day  I  am  going  the  way  of  all  the  earth  :  and 
ye  know  in  all  your  hearts,  and  in  all  your  souls,  that  not 
one  thing  hath  failed  of  all  the  good  things  whicli  the  Lord 
your  God -spake  concerning  you  ;  all  are  come  to  pass  unto 
you,  and  not  one  thirig  hath  failed  thereof.”!  There  was  no 
restriction  on  them  as  to  the  land,  save  that  which  was  re¬ 
served  by  a  brotherly  covenant.  The  tribes  of  Reuben  and 
Gad  might  have  fed  their  flocks  in  peace,  had  their  number 
permitted,  on  the  banks  of  the  Jordan  on  one  side,  and  of 
the  Euphrates  on  the  other.  Neither  had  the  rest  of  the 
tribes  reached  their  bounds.  Their  enemies,  wherever  they 
went,  had  been  driven  out  before  them  ;  they  had  entered 
into  the  possession  of  all  that  they  had  sought  to  occupy — 
of  a  land  wherein  they  did  eat  bread  without  scarceness,  and 
lacked  not  anything  in  it.  The  Lord  was  not  slack  con¬ 
cerning  his  promise,  which  had  been  fulfilled  unto  the  utter¬ 
most;  and  instead  of  there  being  any  limit  to  their  land,  till 
its  appointed  borders  should  be  reached,  they  had  been  al¬ 
ready  charged  by  Joshua  with  being  slack  to  go  to  possess 
the  land  which  the  Lord  their  God  had  given  theni.\  They 
were,  indeed,  to  drive  out  their  enemies,  and  to  possess  the 
land  by  little  and  little,  lest  the  wild  beasts  should  multiply 
among  them.  But  free  as  it  then  was  for  their  possession, 
the  slackness  was  on  their  part  alone  ;  for  God  was  not  then, 
as  He  shall  not  be  at  the  last,  slack  concerning  his  promise^ 
as  some  men  count  slackness.l^  And  large  regions  within  the 
range  of  Israel’s  inheritance  which  yet  remained  to  be  pos¬ 
sessed,  were  allocated  amomg  them,  as  if  they  haJ  been  ac¬ 
tually  held  in  free  tenure  by  a  people  faithful  to  their  God. 
Yet  they  gave  not  heed  to  the  charge  and  command  of  Josh¬ 
ua,  to  go  in  and  possess  the  land  that  remained  ;  and,  be¬ 
cause  of  a  broken  law,  no  other  generation  could,  under  the 
covenant  which  the  Lord  made  with  their  fathers  when  Ho 
brought  them  out  of  Egypt. 

In  the  same  breath  with  which  the  dying  Joshua  set  forth 
the  unfailing  goodness  of  their  G(3d  towards  them,  and  his 
faithfulness  in  his  covenant,  he  warned  them  to  take  good 


*  Josh.,  xxiv.,  31, 
t  Ibid.,  xviii.,  3, 


G 


t  Ibid.,  xxi.,  45  ;  xxiii.,  14. 
<)  2  Peter,  iii.,  9. 


74 


THE  BOUNDARIES  OF 


heed  unto  themselves  that  they  loved  the  Lord  their  God, 
else,  as  he  said,  “  If  ye  do  in  any  wise  go  back,  and  cleave 
unto  the  remnant  of  these  nations,  know  for  a  certainty  that 
the  Lord  your  God  will  no  more  drive  out  any  of  these  na¬ 
tions  from  before  you ;  but  they  shall  be  snares  and  traps  unto 
you,  and  scourges  in  your  sides,  and  thorns  in  your  eyes, 
until  ye  perish  from  off  this  good  land  which  the  Lord  your 
God  hath  given  you.  Therefore  it  shall  come  to  pass,  that 
as  all  good  things  are  come  upon  you  which  the  Lord  your 
God  promised  you,  so  shall  the  Lord  bring  upon  you  all  evil 
things,  until  He  have  destroyed  you  from  off  this  good  land 
which  the  Lord  your  God  hath  given  you.”"* 

Whether  Israel  under  the  law  should  keep  or  hold  in  full 
possession,  even  for  once,  all  the  land,  soon  ceased  to  be 
doubtful.  And  the  fact  is  most  clear,  that  except  for  a 
small  strip  along  the  seashore,  from  Ascalon  to  Acre,  the 
land  peopled  wholly  by  Israelites  nowhere  reached  near  to 
any  of  the  borders  which  God  in  his  bounty  had  assigned 
them,  concerning  which  it  is  not  yet  to  be  forgotten,  as 
often  repeated  in  Scripture,  that  the  Lord  has  lifted  up  his 
hand. 

Even  the  next  generation  of  the  children  of  Israel  knew 
not  the  Lord  as  their  fathers  had  done,  but  did  evil  in  his 
sight,  and  served  Baal  and  Ashtaroth.  The  Lord,  because 
of  their  iniquities,  instead  of  subduing  any  more  of  the  land 
before  them,  sold  them  into  the  hands  of  their  enemies  round 
about  j  and  his  hand  was  against  them  for  evil,  as  He  had 
sworn  unto  them.  But  they  continued  to  multiply  trans¬ 
gressions  before  him,  and  corrupted  their  ways  in  following 
other  gods  to  serve  them,  and  to  bow  down  unto  them.f 
They  ceased  not  from  their  evil  doings,  nor  from  their  stub¬ 
born  way  ;  so  that  the  second  chapter  of  Scripture,  after  that 
which  records  the  death  of  Joshua,  is  not  closed  till  we 
read  that  “  the  anger  of  the  Lord  was  hot  against  Israel ; 
and  he  said^  Because  this  people  hath  transgressed 

MY  COVENANT  WHICH  I  COxMMANDED  THEIR  FATHERS,  AND 
HAVE  NOT  HEARKENED  UNTO  MY  VOICE,  I  ALSO  WILL  NOT 
HENCEFORTH  DRIVE  OUT  ANY  FROM  BEFORE  THEM  OF  THE 
NATIONS  WHICH  JoSHUA  LEFT  WHEN  HE  DIED  ;  that  through 
them  I  may  prove  Israel^  whether  they  will  keep  the  way  of 
the  Lord  to  walk  therein,  as  their  fathers  did  keep  it,  or  not. 
Therefore  the  Lord  left  those  nations,  without  driving  them 

*  Josh.,  xxiii.,  11-15.  t  Judges,  ii.,  11-14. 


THE  PROMiSEp  LAND.  75 

out  hastily ;  neither  delivered  He  them  into  the  hand  of 
Joshua.^'* 

Transgressions  were  multiplied  in  Israel ;  false  gods 
were  followed  and  served ;  and  when  the  people  did  not 
cease  from  their  evil  doings  and  from  their  stubborn  way, 
the  promised  blessings  ceased  ;  the  threatened  curses  took 
effect ;  the  progress  of  the  Israelites  in  the  land  of  promise 
was  arrested ;  however  much  of  it  remained  to  be  possess¬ 
ed,  it  was  to  continue  unoccupied  by  them ;  and  however 
many  enemies  remained  within  the  proper  borders  of  a 
faithful  people,  a  faithless  race  were  not  to  dispossess  any 
of  them,  but  they  were  left  by  the  Lord  for  the  trial  and  the 
punishment  of  those,  before  whom,  if  faithful,  they  would 
have  fled  with  terror.  Under  the  curse  of  a  broken  cove¬ 
nant,  that  soon  pressed  heavily  on  Israel,  and  from  which 
it  never  has  recovered,  the  sentence  came  forth,  that  though 
finally  they  themselves  should  all  be  rooted  out  of  every 
part  of  it,  the  Lord  would  no  more  drive  out  any  of  those 
nations  before  them,  whose  land  previously  they  had  only 
to  “  go  in  and  possess.” 

It  is  not  on  any  human  authority,  nor  even  on  any  direct 
inference  from  Scripture,  but  on  a  word  which,  when  con¬ 
sidered,  carries  conviction  to  every  believing  mind — even 
the  word  of  the  Lord — that  we  plainly  learn  that  the  limited 
region  occupied  by  Israel  in  the  last  days  of  Joshua,  as  thus 
also  in  after  ages,  was  very  far  from  reaching  the  borders 
of  the  large  inheritance  which  He  had  originally  marked 
out,  and  has  still  in  reserve  for  Israel. 

“  Now  Joshua  was  old  and  stricken  in  years,  and  the 
Lord  said  unto  him.  Thou -art  old  and  stricken  in  years,  and 
there  remaineth  yet  very  much  land  to  he  possessed.  All  the 
borders  of  the  Philistines,  and  all  Geshuri  ;  and  from  the 
south,  all  the  land  of  the  Canaanites — all  the  land  of  the 
Giblites,  and  all  Lebanon,  from  Baal-gad  to  the  entering 
into  Hamath ;  all  the  inhabitants  of  the  hill-country,  from 
Lebanon,  and  all  the  Sidonians,”t  &c.  These  were  num¬ 
bered  among  the  nations  which  were  greater  and  mightier 
than  the  Israelites  ;  and  the  countries  which  they  possessed 
formed,  as  will  afterward  be  seen,  extensive  regions.  But 
tke  undoubted  facts  that  very  much  land  then  remained  to  be 
possessed,  and  that  the  Lord  would  not  drive  out  any  of 
these  nations  from  before  them,  which  Joshua  left  when  he 

1  Joshua,  xiii.,  1,  <fec.  See  above,  p.  65. 


*  Judges,  ii.,  20-23. 


76 


THE  BOUNDARIES  OP 


died,  might  lead  the  believer  to  look  for  the  borders  of  the 
covenanted  inheritance  far  beyond  the  bounds  that  Israel 
occupied  of  old,  rather  than  to  limit  it  to  them. 

It  is,  therefore,  rather  to  be  unmindful  of  the  covenant 
itself,  than  to  bear  it  in  remembrance,  to  deny  their  proper 
place,  as  their  names  and  the  definition  of  their  locality- 
bear,  to  the  prescribed  borders^  because  a  people  whom 
their  iniquities,  according  to  the  word  of  the  liord,  ex¬ 
cluded  from  the  actual  possession  of  them,  could  not  rank 
them  as  their  own.  Yet  all  in  general  that  is  said  in  works 
on  Scripture  geography,  of  divers  of  these  places,  as  Bero- 
thah,  Hazar-enan,  Hethlon,  &c.,  is,  that  they  were  towns  on 
the  northern  border  of  Israel.  The  River  of  Egypt,  in  or¬ 
der  to  bring  it  nearer  to  Judea,  has  been  placed  in  the  land 
of  Philistia  ;  the  entrance  into  Hamath  to  the  south  both  of 
Lebanon  and  Sidon  ;  and  Emath. itself,  where  no  city  of  the 
name,  so  far  as  can  be  known,  ever  stood,  has  been  placed, 
as  in  the  map  of  Cellarius,  close  by  Dan,  as  being  on  the 
northern  border  of  Israel ;  and  not  a  few  Christian  writers 
of  high  name  have  discarded  as  incredible  the  covenanted 
borders  of  Israel,  as  believed  in  by  the  Jews  themselves, 
the  heirs  of  the  covenant,  because  these  assign  to  the  true 
heritage  of  Jacob  ampler  borders  than  those  which  hemmed 
in  their  faithless  ancestors. 

In  entering  more  fully  on  a  theme  which  thus  stands  so 
obviously  in  need  of  elucidation,  some  degree  of  minute,  or 
even  tedious  detail,  may  not  be  altogether  inexcusable. 
The  “  goodly”  land  of  Israel  has  been  blasphemed  or 
spoken  against ;  and  its  presumed  diminutive  size  has  also 
given  rise  to  the  taunting  blasphemy,  that  “  the  God  of 
Israel  was  a  little  god,  because  he  gave  to  his  people  but  a 
little  land.”  A  land  full  of  judgments  might  put  scoffers  to 
silence.  But  it  is  right  that  falsehood  should  be  confronted 
and  confuted  by  truth,  and  that  the  word  of  God  should  be 
vindicated,  as  it  declares  that  the  land  given  by  covenant  to 
Israel  is  both  large  and  good,  especially  where  Christian 
w'riters  have  unwittingly  given  a  seeming  sanction  to  the 
impious  sarcasm.  More  than  at  other  times,  or  th^n  in 
past  ages,  the  subject  seems  now  to  demand  investigation, 
and  may  well  excite  attention,  when  the  possession  of 
Syria  by  one  people  or  another  is  a  question  among  others 
than  the  chief  potentates  of  Europe,  and  when  many  Chris¬ 
tians  are  thinking,  who  thought  it  not  before,  that  the  land 


THE  PROMISED  LAND. 


77 


of  Israel  shall  yet  be  Israel’s  own.  Among  the  Gentiles, 
eyes  keen  and  quicksighted  as  the  wolf’s  are  looking  on 
the  various  provinces  of  the  Turkish  Empire;  and  among 
those  who  are  ‘‘  not  numbered  among  the  nations,”  eyes 
beaming  like  the  exile’s  as  he  looks  towards  his  home, 
while  the  days  of  his  expatriation  and  imprisonment  are  in 
his  fond  hope  expiring,  are  looking  wistfully  to  the  promised 
inheritance  of  Jacob’s  seed.  Alas !  that  they  should  yet 
stream  anew  with  bitter  tears,  even  though  they  were  re¬ 
turned  to  it  again,  till  they  loak  on  him  whom  they  have 
pierced,  and  tears  of  penitence,  and  faith,  and  love  be  inter¬ 
mingled,  and  a  broken  law  be  no  longer  a  barrier  to  the 
completion  of  all  the  covenanted  blessing^  still  in  store  for 
faithful  Israel.  Yet,  in  blissful  anticipation  of  that  time,  the 
word  of  the  Lord,  as  written  for  a  time  to  come,  and  never 
yet  fully  realized,  may  guide  our  way  to  the  various  bounds 
He  has  set,  irremovable  by  man,  around  the  decreed  “  heri¬ 
tage  of  Jacob.” 

If  we  look  to  the  kingdom  of  Israel  when  it  attained  to 
its  highest  glory  in  ancient  times,  in  the  days  of  David  and 
Solomon,  the  fact  presents  itself  to  view,  that  the  land  oj 
Israel,  as  peopled  hy  the  seed  of  Jacob,  was  far  from  being 
commensurate  with  the  promised  inheritance,  within  the 
bounds  of  which  other  nations  still  remained.  The  very 
conquests  of  David  give  proof  how  numerous  and  powerful 
these  were.  But  the  Philistines,  and  other  enemies  of  Is¬ 
rael,  held  possession  of  their  own  territories,  which  were 
expressly,  and  by  name,  included  in  the  covenant,  as  given 
by  the  Lord  to  Israel.  Two  or  three  verses  need  but  to  be 
read,  to  prove  beyond  contradiction — except  Scripture  be 
contradicted — that  the  conditional  promises  of  the  covenant 
made  with  the  Israelites  failed  because  of  their  unfaithful¬ 
ness,  and  that  at  no  time,  not  even  when  Solomon’s  king¬ 
dom  was  in  its  highest  glory,  were  these  promises  comple¬ 
ted.  “  I  will  send  an  angel  before  thee  ;  and  1  will  drive 
out  the  Canaanite,  the  Amorite,  and  the  Hitlite,  and  the 
Perizzite,  the  Hivite,  and  the  Jebusite,”*  &c.  “  Observe 

thou  that  which  I  command  thee  this  day  :  behold,  I  drive 
.out*  before  thee  the  Amorite,  and  the  Canaanite,  and  the 
Hitlite,”!'  &LC,  “  There  shall  no  man  be  able  to  stand  be¬ 
fore  thee,  until  thou  have  destroyed  them.”!  Yet  of  these 
very  nations  we  read  again,  “  All  the  people  that  were  left 

*  Exod.,  xxxiii.,  2.  t  Ibid.,  xxxiv.,  11.  t  Deut.,  vii.,  24 

G  2 


78 


Tlir.  B  JUNDALliK.^  OF 


of  the  x\morites,  Hittites,  Perizzites,  Hivites,  and  Jebusites, 
which  were  not  of  the  children  of  Israel,  their  children 
that  were  left  after  them  in  the  land,  whom  the  children  of 
Israel  also  were  not  able  utterly  to  destroy ^  upon  these  did  Sol¬ 
omon  levy  a  tribute.”* 

Solomon’s  reign,  compared  to  others,  was  peaceful.  “  Ju¬ 
dah  and  Israel  dwelt  safely  from  Dan  even  to  Beersheba, 
all  the  days  of  Solomon.”!  But  these  were  still  the  limits 
of  the  land,  within  which  they  dwelt  as  their  own.  The 
sceptre  was  swayed  from  the  throne  in  Jerusalem  over  all 
Israel  only  during  these  two  reigns.  But  a  king  did  not 
reign  in  righteousness  then.  David  transgressed,  and 
brought  a  pestilence  on  the  land.  He  sinned  yet  more,  and 
for  a  season  was  a  fugitive  from  his  capital.  Solomon’s 
heart  was  turned  from  the  God  of  Israel,  and  the  Lord  was 
angry  with  him.  He  raised  up  adversaries  to  Solomon — 
Hadad  the  Edomite,  and  Rezon,  who  reigned  in  Damascus, 
and  was  an  adversary  to  Israel  all  the  days  of  Solomon. 
And  even  Jeroboam,  Solomon’s  servant,  lifted  up  his  hand 
against  the  king  ;  and  to  him  the  kingdom  of  Israel  was 
given,  when,  according  to  the  word  of  the  Lord,  it  was  rent 
out  of  the  hand  of  Solomon’s  son.J 

But  the  law  was  the  shadow  of  good  things  to  come, 
though  not  the  very  substance  of  the  things. §  And  the 
kingdom  of  Israel  in  its  ancient  glory  was  a  shadow  of  the 
kingdom  yet  to  be  restored  to  Israel,  when,  as  assuredly  as 
the  covenant  with  the  Israelites  was  broken,  and  its  curses 
came  upon  them,  the  covenant  with  Abraham  shall  be  ful¬ 
filled,  and  its  blessings,  in  lighting  upon  Israel  at  last,  shall 
be  spread  throughout  the  world.  Though  the  nations  which 
remained  within  the  bounds  of  Israel’s  promised  inheritance 
were  never  driven  beyond  them,  nor  utterly  destroyed  by 
the  Israelites,  yet  the  shadow  of  the  kingdom  of  Israel,  as 
that  kingdom  shall  be  finally  restored,  reached  to  the  ut¬ 
most  borders  of  the  land  from  the  high  throne  of  the  house 
of  David,  which  was  set  up  in  Jerusalem.  “  Glorious 
things”  are  written  of  that  city  which  comport  not  at  all 
with  any  more  straitened  borders  than  the  God  of  Jerusa¬ 
lem  has  assigned.  When  that  throne  was  first  established, 
which  the  Lord,  according  to  his  covenant  with  David, 
shall  build  up  to  all  generations,  and  when  the  ark  of  the 

*  1  Kings,  ix.,  20,  21.  t  Ibid.,  iv.,  25. 

t  Ibid.,  xi,,  9,  12,  14,  23,  26.  ^  Heb.,  x.,  1. 


> 


THE  PROMISED  LAND. 


79 


covenant  was  set  up  in  Jerusalem,  David  smote  the  Philis¬ 
tines  and  subdued  them  ;*  he  smote  the  Moabites,  and  they 
became  David’s  servants ;  he  smote  also  Hadad-ezer,  the 
son  of  Rehob,  king  of  Zobah,  as  he  went  to  recover  his  bor¬ 
der  at  the  River  Euphrates.^  He  smote  the  Syrians,  and 
he  put  garrisons  in  Syria  of  Damascus  ;  he  took  the  shields 
of  gold  that  were  on  the  servants  of  Hadad-ezer,  and  brought 
them  to  Jerusalem,  and  from  Betah  and  from  Berothai,  cities 
of  Hadad-ezer,  King  David  took  exceeding  much  brass.J 
Toi,  king  of  Hamath,  senihxs  son  to  salute  him  and  to  bless 
him,  and  he  brought  with  him  vessels  of  silver,  and  gold, 
and  brass.  These  and  the  spoils  of  Syria  and  of  Moab,  of 
Ammon,  of  the  Philistines,  of  Amalek,  and  of  the  King  of 
Zobah,  he  dedicated  to  the  Lord.(^  Throughout  all  Edom 
he  put  garrisons,  and  all  they  of  Edom  became  David’s  ser¬ 
vants. [j  When  the  various  nations  were  subdued,  or  owned 
his  supremacy,  the  scriptural  record  immediately  after  bears, 
“  So  David  reigned  over  all  Israel,  and  executed  judgment 
and  justice  in  all  his  dominion.”  Other  nations  than  the 
seed  of  Jacob  dwelt  within  his  borders.  Though  very  much 
land  remained  to  be  possessed  as  in  the  days  of  Joshua, 
countries  which  Israel  did  not  fully  possess  or  people,  and 
from  which  their  enemies  were  never  driven  out,  owned  the 
supreme  sovereignty  of  David,  and  did  him  homage.  And 
though  the  Euphrates  watered  not  the  land  of  Israel,  but 
the  kingdom  of  Hadad-ezer,  that  great  river  was  the  border 
of  David’s  dominion. 

So  was  it  also  with  Solomon.  The  twelve  tribes  united 
under  him  were  but  one  people  in  the  midst  of  many.  His 
kingdom,  like  that  of  his  father  David,  extended  far  beyond 
the  land  actually  occupied  and  possessed  by  the  Israelites  ; 
and  he  exercised  a  nominal  or  real  sovereignty  over  all  the 
regions  which  the  Lord  had  given  to  the  seed  of  Jacob. 
Solomon  reigned  over  all  the  kings  from  the  Euphrates  unto 
the  land  of  the  Philistines,  and  to  the  border  of  Egypt ;  they 
brought  presents,  and  served  Solomon  all  the  days  of  his 
life.  He  had  dominion  over  all  the  region  on  this  side  the 
River  Euphrates,  from  Tipzah  unto  Azzah,  over  all  the  kings 
onHhis  side  of  the  river. Solomon  went  to,  Hamath-Zobah 

*  2  Sam.,  V.,  17-25^  riii.,  1.  1  Chron.,  xviii.,  1. 
t  2  Sam.,  riii.,  2,  3.  1  Chron.,  xviii.,  3. 

t  2  Sam.,  viii.,  5-8.  1  Chron.,  xviii.,  5-8. 

()  2  Sam.,  viii.,  11.  1  Chron.,  xviii.,  9-13. 

II  2  Sam.,  viii.,  14.  1  Chron.,  xviii.,  13. 

ir  1  Kings,  iv.,  21-24.  2  Chron.,  ix.,  26. 


80 


THE  BOUNDARIES  OF 


-  ■; 

/!?■ 


and  prevailed  against  it.  And  he  built  Tadmor  in  the  wil¬ 
derness,  and  Hamath,  and  all  the  store-cities  which  he  built 
in  Hamath,  and  in  Lebanon,  and  throughout  all  the  land  of 
his  dominion*  He  made  a  navy  of  ships  in  Ezion-gaber, 
which  is  beside  Eloth,  on  the  shore  of  the  Red  Sea,  in  the 
land  of  Edom.f  And  he  laid  a  tribute  of  bond-service  upon 
the  children  of  the  Amorites,  Hiltites,  Perizzites,  Hivites, 
and  Jebusites,  which  were  left  in  the  land,  whom,  as  em¬ 
phatically  stated,  the  children  of  Israel  were  not  able  utter¬ 
ly  to  destroy.^ 

But  rieither  in  the  reign  of  David  nor  Solomon  were  their 
enemies  driven  out  before  the  children  of  Israel,  whose 
proper  bounds  were  still  the  same  as  at  the  time  of  the  death 
of  Joshua.  For  when  the  fullest  limits  recorded  in  scrip¬ 
tural  history  were  assigned  to  the  kingdom  over  which  these 
monarchs  reigned,  it  is  added,  as  descriptive  even  of  the 
farther  glory  of  Solomon’s  reign,  and  Judah  and  Israel 
dwelt  safely,  every  man  under  his  vine  and  under  his  fig- 
tree, yro???  Dan  even  to  Beersheba,  all  the  days  of  Solomon.”^ 

The  extent  of  the  covenanted  inheritance  may  therefore 
be  seen,  not  in  the  land  of  Israel  of  old,  but  in  the  dominion 
of  Solomon,  including  all  the  lands  of  tributary  kings,  from 
the  land  of  Hamath,  its  king  in  the  number,  to  the  shores  of 
the  Red  Sea,  and  from  the  border  of  Egypt  to  the  Euphra¬ 
tes,  including  all  the  kings  on  the  west  side  of  that  river. 
But  the  borders  of  Judah  and  Israel,  viz.,  Dan  and  Beer¬ 
sheba,  within  which  the  children  of  Israel  dwelt  in  safety, 
were  not  the  borders  of  Solomon’s  dominion,  and  no  more 
are  they  the  borders  of  Israel’s  decreed  and  destined  inher¬ 
itance.  The  terms  of  the  Abrahamic  covenant  rise  far 
higher  than  the  record  of  Solomon’s  reign.  *  In  them  there 
is  no  word  of  nations  that  should  not  be  driven  out,  nor  of 
any  other  kingdom  than  that  of  Israel  alone,  from  the  River 
of  Egypt  to  the  River  Euphrates.  But  the  sovereignty 
which  he  exercised  over  all  the  kingdoms  of  his  dominion, 
reaching  to  the  heaven-appointed  borders,  give  a  practical 
illustration  of  the  extent  of  the  inheritance  of  Israel,  when¬ 
ever,  in  the  completion  of  the  covenant,  all  these  countries 
shall  be  the  land  of  their  possession.  David  and  Solomon 
acknowledged  no  other  “  borders”  than  the  border  of  Egypt, 
the  Euphrates,  the  Red  Sea,  and  Hamath :  and  none  who 

*  2  Chron.,  viii.,  3-6.  t  1  Kings,  ix.,  28.  2  Chron.,  vjii.,  17. 

i  1  Kings,  ix.,  21.  2  Chron.,  viii.,  7,  8.  Kings,  iv.,  25. 


'  .4 

1  I  t 


-Lie., 


THE  PROMISED  LAND. 


81 


look  as  they  did  to  the  covenant  of  the  Lord  with  Abraham, 
and  Isaac,  and  Jacob,  can  acknowledge  limits  more  circum¬ 
scribed.  And  the  spirit  of  faith  breaks  through  the  bonds 
with  which  a  false  theory  concerning  the  limits  of  Israel 
has  fettered  inquiry,  and  gives  full  freedom  to  read  the 
words  as  they  are  written,  and  to  seek  the  “  borders”  where 
they  are  to  be  found,  in  the  utmost  bounds  of  Solomon’s  do- 
minion. 

At  no  other  time  did  the  Israelites  so  fully  possess  their 
promised  inheritance  as  in  the  days  of  Solomon.  After  his 
death  the  glory  of  Israel  was  greatly  diminished,  and  the 
kingdom  was  rent  in  twain.  The  seed  of  Jacob,  a  divided 
and  often  mutually  conflicting  people,  did  cleave  to  the  rem¬ 
nant  of  the  nations  that  were  left  around  them,  and  forsook 
the  Lord  God  of  their  fathers.  Ephraim  vexed  Judah,  and 
Judah  Ephraim.  The  tide  of  conquest,  renewed  by  David, 
was  turned  back,  and  never  rose  so  high  again.  The  ene¬ 
mies  of  Israel  prevailed.  The  inheritance  which  the  Lord 
had  given  them,  they  lost.  Ephraim  was  given  up  to  his 
idols,  and  fell  in  his  iniquity.  Ten  tribes  were  destroyed 
from  off  the  land  of  Israel,  and  their  place  was  occupied  by 
aliens  from  their  commonwealth.  Judah  never  regained 
what  Ephraim  had  lost.  And  for  the  perfect  completion  of 
the  covenant  of  God  with  their  fathers,  in  respect  to  the  ex¬ 
tent  as  well  as  the  perpetuity  of  the  promised  inheritance, 
we  must  look  to  the  days  when  “  Judah  and  Ephraim  shall 
be  one  in  the  hands  of  the  Lord,”  and  when,  according  to 
the  new  division  of  the  land,  as  defined  by  Ezekiel,  the 
twelve;  tribes  of  Israel,  one  as  well  as  another,  shall  inherit 
the  land,*  froyi  the  River  of  Egypt  to  the  great  River  Eu¬ 
phrates 


SECTION  II. 

THE  RIVER  OF  EGYPT. 

The  River  of  Egypt,  from  which  to  the  Euphrates  the 
inheritance  of  Israel  extends,  might  at  once  and  univer¬ 
sally,  without  an  explanatory  word,  be  identified  with 
the  Nile,  which  is  emphatically  and  exclusively,  as 
known  to  all  the  world,  the  River  of  Egypt.  But  because 
the  Holy  Land,  as  possessed  by  the  Israelites  in  ancient 
times,  never  reached  to  Egypt,  and  the  Nile  never  form- 

*  Ezelc.,  xlvii.,  13,  14. 


82 


THE  BOUNDARIES  OP 


ed  its  boundary,  the  brook  Besor,  in  the  land  of  Philistia, 
a  mere  streamlet  compared  to  the  Nile,  and  sometimes 
nearly,  if  not  altogether  dry  in  summer,  without  being 
transported  to  its  borders,  has  been  exalted  into  the.  River 
of  Egypt.  If  the  terms  of  the  covenant  be  not  altogether 
disregarded,  such  an  opinion  is  unworthy  of  confutation, 
as  a  brook,  were  it  even  worthy  of  being  the  boundary 
of  a  large  kingdom,  cannot,  while  flowing  only  in  one 
country,  be  the  river  of  another  which  it  never  reaches. 

The  translation  of  the  term  Jfahal  Mitzraim 
vHp  in  a  single  instance  in  the  Septuagint,  into  Rhino- 
corura  (ftvoKopovpog),  seemed  to  give  warrant  for  the 
opinion  to  which  it  gave  rise,  that  a  river  or  stream 
near  the  town  of  that  name  was  the  River  of  Egypt.  This 
opinion  was  ably  controverted  and  refuted  by  Dr.  Shaw, 
who  states  that,  “  in  geographical  criticism,  little  stress 
can  be  laid  on  the  authority  of  the  Septuagint  version, 
where  the  phrase  so  frequently,  as  he  shows,  varies  from 
the  original,  and  where  so  many  different  interpretations 
are  put  upon  one  and  the  same  thing.”* 

Pelusium,  situated  on  the  banks  of  the  eastern  branch 
of  the  Nile,  formed  the  extreme  boundary  of  Egypt  on 
the  coast  of  the  Mediterranean,  and  the  region  between 
it  and  the  Red  Sea  pertained,  as  Strabo  relates,  not  to 
Egypt,  but  to  Arabia.f  But,  as  the  covenant  concern¬ 
ing  the  land  has  evidently  respect  to  the  latter  days, 
even  as  the  inheritance  is  declared  to  be  an  everlasting 
possession,  the  fatal  objection  against  Rhinocorura  is  that 
there  is  no  stream,  or  river,  or  torrent  there,  that  could 
in  any  way  form  as  a  river  the  boundary  of  a  kingdom. 
Amid  sandy  hills  all  around,  there  is  indeed  something 
like  the  form  of  a  valley  close  upon  the  sea,  wide  enough 
for  a  large  river,  but,  in  the  summer  at  least,  as  the 
writer  witnessed  in  passing  it,  there  was  no  stream,  or 
even  streamlet,  or  drop  of  water  there  ;  and  the  ground, 
nearly  on  the  level  with  the  seashore,  was  as  dry  as  the 
parched  wilderness.  The  River  of  Egypt,  as  a  border 
of  the  large  dominion  forming  the  everlasting  inheritance 

O  o  O 

of  Israel,  is  not  surely  such  as  cannot  be  seen.  The 
country  around  Rhinocorura  is  as  it  was  in  the  days  of 


*  Shaw’s  Travels,  Supplement,  p.  23,  24.  See  APPENDIX  1. 
t  Strabo,  cap.  17,  tom.  ii.,  p.  1138,  ed.  Falcon. 


THE  PROMISED  LAND. 


83 


Diodorus  Siculus,  Herodotus,  and  Strabo,  as  their  au¬ 
thorities  are  adduced*  on  this  very  point  by  Dr.  Shaw,  a 
barren  country  deprived  of  the  necessaries  of  life  j  with¬ 
out  the  walls  there  are  several  salt-pits  5  within,  the  wells 
yield  only  a  bitter,  corrupted  water.  Herodotus  con¬ 
firms  this  account  by  telling  us  that  in  those  deserts 
there  was  a  dreadful  want  of  water  to  the  distance  of 
three  days’  journey  from  Mount  Casius,  bordering  on 
Egypt,  on  the  Sirbonic  Lake.  Strabo  relates  that  the 
whole  country  between  Gaza  and  the  Sirbonic  Lake  was 
barren  or  sandy.  There  was  no  “  River  of  Egypt”  there 
either  in  ancient  or  modern  times.  The  writer  has  not 
been  able  to  discover  any  mention  of  it  as  a  stream  or 
streamlet  (though  such  in  winter  there  possibly  may  be) 
by  any  modern  or  ancient  author,  though  it  has  been  so 
placed  in  many  maps. 

The  River  of  Egypt  is  doubtless  the  JVt7e,  to  which 
the  Mahal  Mitzraim  of  the  Hebrews  seems  to  have  given 
its  name.  From  it,  in  the  estimation  of  the  learned 
Bochart,  that  name  by  which  the  River  of  Egypt  is  uni¬ 
versally  known,  was  “  most  certainly  derived.”*  For 
Mahal  the  Jewish  interpreters  read  the  Nile. 

The  River  of  Egypt  bears,  in  parallel  passages  of  Scrip¬ 
ture,  the  name  of  Sihor^  which  is  plainly  identified  with 
the  Nile.  Like  other  names  given  to  that  river  by  va¬ 
rious  nations,  who,  according  to  Dr.  Hales  and  many 
other  authors,  have  translated  it  into  their  own  lan¬ 
guages,  it  literally  signifies  “  black.”  These  are  too  nu¬ 
merous  to  owe  their  origin  to  any  other  than  a  common 
cause,  which  gave  in  them  all  its  significancy  to  each 
name  of  the  selfsame  river.  According  to  Pliny,  Soli- 
nus,  and  Dionysius,  the  Nile  was  ealled  Siris,  “  its  Ethi- 
opic  name  derived  from  Sihor  or  Sihr^  The  words 
Melas  and  Melo^  like  the  Hebrew  Sihor,  also  literally 
signifying  “  black,”  were  among  the  Greeks  names  of 
the  Nile.  The  Egyptian  name  of  the  river,  according 
to  Diodorus,  was  OkeameSy  from  Okema^  or  Okem^  signi¬ 
fying  “  black,”  whence  also  it  was  styled  by  the  Hindus 
“  Ca/^,”  all  names  of  the  same  import.f 

*  Nahal  torrens  pro  Nilo  accipitur,  ut  in  scriptura  passim.  Num.,  xxiiv.,  5, 
pro  Hebrseo  Nahal,  legitur  Nilus  Olb'J  in  Jonathane  et  Jerosolymitano 

interprete,  atque  hinc  Niii  nominis  origo  certissima  est. — Bochart,  iii.,  764. 

t  Shaw’s  Trav.,  ibid.,  p.  31..  Hales’s  .Chronology,  vol.  i.,  p.  413,  414, 


84 


THE  BOUNDARIES  OF 


Thus  the  name  given  in  Scripture  to  the  bounding 
river  of  Israel’s  inheritance  on  the  side  of  Egypt  is  sim¬ 
ilar  in  sound  and  in  significancy  to  Sihr,  the  Ethiopian 
name  of  the  Nile,  and  is  precisely  of  the  same  import 
with  the  names  which  it  beays  in  other  languages.  The 
name  is  specially  appropriate  to  the  Nile,  loaded  as  it  is 
with  the  dark  loam  of  Abyssinia  and  Upper  Egypt,  and 
flowing  for  hundreds  of  miles  through  its  own  dark  de- 
posites,  with  which,  as  in  the  days  of  Virgil  and  in  earli¬ 
er  times,  it  fertilizes  the  land  in  annual  overflow. 

Viridem  Egyptam  nigra  fecundat  arena. 

Its  dark  and  muddy  waters,  though  sweet  to  the  taste, 
need  first  to  be  filtered,  and  leave  a  large  dark  sediment. 
The  name  of  Sihor  is  most  appropriate  to  the  Nile  ;  but, 
having  passed  by  both,  the  writer  may  remark,  that  it 
would  but  ill  apply  to  a  river  of  Rhinocorura,  were  there 
a  river  there ;  for  the  sandy  hills  around  it,  and  bound¬ 
less  sandy  plains  joining  the  desert,  might  so  filter  any 
stream,  or  purify  even  the  Nile  itself,  as  to  rob  it  of  all 
title  to  this  scriptural  name. 

The  Nile,  forming  emphatically,  and,  it  may  well  be 
said,  exclusively,  “  the  River  of  Egypt^^ — the  name  by 
which  it  is  now  universally  known  being  most  certainly, 
on  high  authority,  derived  from  the  very  word  which  is 
translated  in  our  own  version  the  river  or  stream  of 
Egypt — the  eastern  branch  of  the  Nile  having  been  the 
boundary  of  that  country,  according  to  Strabo,  who  is 
second,  in  accuracy  at  least,  to  none  of  the  ancient  ge¬ 
ographers,  and  its  dark  waters  having  given  it  the  name 
which  it  bears  in  Scripture,  in  exact  analogy  to  other 
appellations  by  which  it  was  known  in  their  own  tongue 
to  various  heathen  nations,  strong  and  conclusive  proof 
may  hence  arise  that  the  River  of  Egypt  “  could  be  none 
other  than  the  Nile.”  The  fact,  too,  that  “  none  of  the 
old  geographers — Strabo,  Mela,  Pliny,  Ptolemy,  &c. — 
notice  any  stream  or  torrent  at  Rhinocorura,”  and  no 
river,  or,  in  summer  at  least,  not  even  the  smallest 
streamlet  now  existing  there,  it  is  left  without  an  actual 
competitor.  And  yet  the  proofs  and  authorities  are  not 
exhausted,  that  the  River  of  Egypt  is  the  Nile,  even  as 
assuredly  as  the  Nile  is  the  River  of  Egypt. 

That  the  Sihor,  as  Gesenius  states,*  is  “necessarily” 

*  Apud  rocem. 


THE  PROMISED  LAND. 


85 


w 


the  Nile,  is  farther  evident  from  other  passages  of  Scrip¬ 
ture.  In  describing  the  commerce  of  Tvre,  the  mart  of 
nations,  Isaiah  records,  in  terms  applicable  to  the  Nile 
alone,  that  “  by  great  waters  the  seed  of  Silior,  the  har¬ 
vest  of  the  river  (or,  as  translated  in  the  Vulgate,  the 
JVite)  is  her  revenues.”*  That  river  is  alike  pointedly 
referred  to  by  Jeremiah,  as  the  Lord  did  plead  with  Is¬ 
rael  concerning  the  judgments  brought  on  them  for  their 
iniquities.  “  Is  Israel  a  home-born  slave  1  The  children 
of  Noph  (Memphis,  on  the  banks  of  the  JVile)  and  Ta- 
haphanes  have  broken  the  crown  of  thy  head.  And  now 
what  hast  thou  to  do  in  the  way  of  Egypt^  to  drink  the 
waters  of  Sihor  ?  or  what  hast  thou  to  do  in  the  way  of 
Assyria,  to  drink  the  waters  of  the  river  I”!  Associated 
as  Egypt  thus  repeatedly  is  with  its  river,  or  the  Sihor, 
and  Assyria  with  its  river,  or  the  Euphrates,  there  seems 
no  room  for  doubt,  that  as  the  Euphrates  is  the  River 
of  Assyria,  so  the  Nile  is  the  River  of  Egypt. 

The  same  identical  word  is  descriptive  of  them  both 
in  the  original  covenant,  as  the  promise  was  made  to 
Abraham,  Gen.,  xv.,  18.  The  word  translated  river  is 
not,  as  in  other  passages,  J^ahal,  but  JVehar^  or  JVehar- 
J\Iitzraim,‘ the^Hivep  of  Egypt ;  even  as  in  the  same  pas¬ 
sage  JVehar  Phraat  is  the  River  Euphrates.  The  same 
word,  too,  in  the  plural  number,  is  applied  undoubtedly 
to  the  separate  branches  of  the  Nile  (forming  rivers, 
though  divided)  in  a  passage  that  cannot  possibly  apply 
to  any  other  river,  Exod.,  vii.,  19  :  “  And  the  Lord  spake 
unto  Moses,  say  unto  Aaron,  Stretch  forth  thy  hand 
with  thy  rod,  over  the  streams,  over  the  rivers  {neharim), 
and  over  the  ponds,  and  cause  frogs  to  come  up  upon 
the  land  of  Egypt.” 

It  may  here  be  remarked,  though  anticipating  another 
branch  of  the  subject,  that  the  boundaries  of  Israel  thus 
approach  as  closely  on  the  one  side  to  Egypt,  as  to 
Assyria  on  the  other,  as  if  preparation  had  thus  been 
made  from  the  beginning  for  the  completion  of  the 
farther  promise,  that  the  Egyptians  shall  serve  with  the 
Assyrians,  when  these  nations  shall  be  joined,  though  in 
subserviency,  to  Israel,  “whom  the  Lord  of  Hosts  shall 
bless,  saying.  Blessed  be  Egypt  my  people,  and  Assyria 
the  work  of  my  hands,  and  Jsrael  mine  inheritance.”t 


*  Isa.,  xx'il  3. 


t  Jer.,  ii.,  14-18. 

ll 


t  Isa.,  xix.,  23-25, 


86 


THE  BOUNDARIES  OF 


“  The  River  of  Egypt,”  says  Dr.  Hales,  “  which  is  con¬ 
trasted  with  the  River  Euphrates,  must  also  be  a  ‘great 
river,’  and  a  marked  boundary  about  which  there  could  be 
no  dispute  ;  and  this  was  no  other  than  the  Nile,  whose 
eastern  or  Pelusian  branch  was  reckoned  the  boundary 
of  Egypt.”* 

It  may  be  presumed  that  the  other  boundaries,  as 
set  by  a  divine  hand,  and  engrossed  in  the  covenant, 
are  also  marked,  that  ultimately,  whatever  discrepancy 
of  opinion  may  have  heretofore  existed,  there  shall  be  no 
doubt  or  dispute  concerning  them  on  any  side.  Look¬ 
ing  to  the  scriptural  definition  of  the  borders,  which 
alone  can  prescribe  the  extent  of  the  promised  inherit¬ 
ance,  ample  proof,  if  the  author  errs  not,  may  be  ad¬ 
duced  to  show  that  the  heritage  of  Jacob,  however  vast 
its  range,  is  everywhere  encompassed  by  marked  un¬ 
questionable  bounds. 

In  order  to  this  proof,  and  to  clear  our  way  to  attain 
it,  it  is  needful  to  protest  in  every  instance  against  the 
idea  that  the  fraction  of  the  land  occupied  by  the  Israel¬ 
ites  of  old  comprehends  the  full  limits  of  the  “  ever¬ 
lasting  possession”  of  a  people  whom  the  Lord  will  bless 
in  the  full  and  final  comoletion  of  all  his  promises. 

SECTION  III. 

THE  WEST  AND  NORTH  BORDERS. 

The  WESTERN  BORDER  is  as  defined  as  are  the  shores 
of  the  Mediterranean  from  the  River  of  Egypt  to  the 
north  side  of  the  promised  land.  In  the  definition  of 
the  borders  of  the  tribes  who  had  not  received  their  por¬ 
tion  on  the  east  side  of  the  Jordan,  it  is  said,  “As  for 
the  western  border,  ye  shall  even  have  the  great  sea  for 
a  border  ;  this  shall  be  your  west  border.”!  It  thus  ex¬ 
tends  along  the  Mediterranean  shore,  from  the  River  of 
Egypt  to  the  entrance  into  Hamath^  which  both  rank  as 
borders  in  the  same  chapter.  In  defining  the  general 
boundary  of  all  the  tribes,  when  they  shall  all  finally  in¬ 
herit  the  land,  Ezekiel,  speaking  by  the  same  Spirit, 
says,  “  The  west  side  shall  also  be  the  great  sea,  from 
the  border  till  a  man  come  over  against  Hamath.  This  is 
the  west  “  The  borde'g  of  the  land  towards  the  north 

*  Hales’s  Chron.,  vol.  i.,  p.  413.  .  t  Num.,  xxxiv.,  6.  t  Ezek^,  xlvii.,  20. 


THE  PROMISED  LAND. 


87 


Side  is  from  the  great  sea.’’"'*  From  the  border — on  the 
River  of  Egypt,  as  previously  stated,  which  formed  it — 
the  western  border  extends  till  its  termination  along 
the  shores  of  the  Mediterranean,  and  thus  leaves  no 
place  on  its  coast,  from  south  to  north,  in  all  the  inter¬ 
mediate  distance,  that  does  not  pertain  to  Israel. 

The  definitions  of  the  north  border,  which  fixes  the 
termination  of  the  western,  demand  special  regard. 

“  This  shall  be  your  north  border.  From  the  great 
sea  ye  shall  point  out  unto  you  Mount  Hor  ;  from  Mount 
Hor  ye  shall  point  out  your  border  unto  the  entrance  of 
Hamath ;  and  the  goings  forth  of  the  border  shall  be  to 
Zedad ;  and  the  border  shall  go  on  to  Ziphron,  and  the 
goings  out  of  it  shall  be  at  Hazar-enan ;  this  shall  be 
your  north  border:  and  ye  shall  point  out  your  east  bor¬ 
der  from  Hazar-enan  to  Shephan  j  and  the  coast  shall 
go  down  from  Shephan  to  Riblah,  on  the  east  side  of 
Ain;  and  the  border  shall  descend,”!  &c.  “This  shall 
be  the  border  of  the  land  towards  the  north  side,  from 
the  great  sea,  the  way  of  Hethlon,  as  men  go  to  Zedad, 
Hamath,  Berothah,  Sibraim,  which  is  between  the  bor¬ 
der  of  Damascus  and  the  border  of  Hamath ;  Hazar- 
hatticon,  which  is  by  the  coast  of  Hauran.  And  the 
border  from  the  east  shall  be  Hazar-enan,  the  border  of 
Damascus,  and  the  north  northward^  and  the  border  of 
Hamath.  And  this  is  the  north  side.”!  “  From  the 
north  end  to  the  coast  of  the  way  of  Hethlon,  as  one 
goeth  to  Hamath,  Hazar-enan,  the  border  of  Damascus 
northward,  to  the  coast  of  Hamath  :  for  these  are  his 
sides  east  and  west,  a  portion  of  Dan.”§  Of  the  land 
that  remained  to  be  possessed  at  the  death  of  Joshua, 
peopled  by  the  nations  that  were  not  driven  out  of  the 
promised  land,  these  were  included:  “  from  the  south  all 
the  land  of  the  Canaanites^  and  Mearah,  that  is  beside 
the  Sidonians  ;  and  the  land  of  the  Giblites^  and  all  Leba¬ 
non  towards  the  sun-rising,  from  Baal-gad  unto  Mount 
Hermon,  unto  the  entering  into  Hamath^  all  the  inhabitants 
of  the  hill-country^  from  Lebanon  unto  Misrephoth-maim, 
and  all  the  Sidoniansy\\ 

Clear  as  these  scriptural  definitions  are,  yet  on  the 

*  Ezek.,  xlvii.,  15.  Num.,  xxxiv.,  7-11.  t  Num.,  xxxiv.,  7-11. 

t  Ezek.,  xlvii.,  15-17.  ^  Ibid.,  xlviii.,  1.  ||  Jo.shua,  xiii.,  4  6 


88 


THE  BOUNDARIES  OF 


same  principle— that  the  borders  of  ancient  Israel  were 
identical  with  those  of  the  covenanted  land — the  valley 
of  the  Kasirniyeh,  or  Leontes,  near  to  Tyre,  and  over 
against  Dan^  has,  from  its  vicinity  to  that  city,  been 
generally  deemed  the  entrance  into  Hamath.  The  care¬ 
ful  perusal  of  these  texts,  with  a  glance  at  the  map,  may 
show  at  once  that  the  north  border  of  the  promised  land 
cannot  possibly  be  there.  Such  an  entrance  into  Ha¬ 
math  from  the  sea  would  exclude,  instead  of  including, 
at  least  all  the  Sidonians^  all  Lebanon^  all  the  hill-country 
from  Lebanon^  all  the  land  of  the  Giblites^  all  the  kingdom 
of  Damascus  y  and  all  the  land  of  Hamath  ;  and  would  leave 
forever  the  north  border  of  the  l.and  what  it  was  in  the 
days  of  Joshua.  But  very  much  land^  as  the  names  of 
these  regions  suffice  to  indicate,  remained  to  be  possessed ; 
and  the  proof  is  plain,  that  the  north  end  of  the  inherit¬ 
ance  of  Israel  was  very  far  from  the  mouth  of  the  Leon¬ 
tes.  The  great  sea^  or  the  Mediterranean,  is  the  border^ 
till  a  man  come  over  against  Hamath;  but  coming  thus 
from  the  south  along  its  shores,  when  the  Leontes  is 
touched,  no  part  of  Lebanon  is  reached,  instead  of  it  all 
being  passed;  and  instead  of  a  man  being  there  op¬ 
posite  to  Hamath^  a  journey  from  thence  of  about  forty 
miles  lies  between  him  and  Beyrout,  that  is  opposite  to 
Damascus,  which  city,  in  difference  of  latitude  alone,  is 
more  than  a  hundred  miles  south  of  Hamath  ;  while  the  al¬ 
lotted  territory  of  a  whole  tribe  of  Israel  lies  beyond  the 
border  of  Damascus  northward^  and  has  first  to  be  passed 
through  before  the  entrance  into  Hamath  can  be  reached. 

Instead,  therefore,  of  looking  for  the  real  north  bor¬ 
der  of  Israel’s  destined  inheritance  in  the  latitude  of  Dan 
— which  formed,  indeed,  the  bounds  of  the  limited  ter¬ 
ritory  possessed  by  the  seed  of  Jacob  in  the  days  of 
Joshua,  as  in  after  agres — the  word  of  the  Lord  which 
came  unto  him  teaches  us  first  to  pass  over  much  land 
from  the  south,  and  tells  us  the  very  regions  which  have 
to  be  traversed  from  thence  before  the  north  border  has 
even  to  he  sought  for,  or  can  anywhere  be  found. 

All  the  SidonianSy  no  mean  people,  whose  land  lay 
along  the  seashore  and  the  southwestern  part  of  the 
mountains  of  Lebanon,  occupied  no  diminutive  space. 
Lebanon  is  an  extensive  mountainous  range,  which 
stretches  to  the  north  of  the  embouchure  of  the  Leontes 


THE  PROMISED  LAND* 


89 


at  least  a  hundred  and  twenty  miles,  or,  according  to  Dio- 
d6rus  Siculus,  till  it  reaches  the  mountains  of  Cilicia  or  the 
mouth  of  the  Orontes.  But  besides  Lebanon,  strictly  so 
called,  Israel’s  unoccupied  territory  included  all  the  hill- 
country  from  it  to  Mizrephoth-maim,  which,  by  seemingly 
another  ample  space,  extends  the  land  in  a  mountainous 
country  beyond  the  bounds  of  Lebanon.  All  the  land  of  the 
Canaanites,  and  of  the  Gihliies^  expressly  mentioned  among 
the  regions  that  remained  to  be  possessed  after  the  borders 
of  Israel  reached  the  Leontes,  have  yet  to  take  their  place 
— though,  like  others,  for  the  first  time — within  the  inherit¬ 
ance  of  the  Israelites,  as  the  land  of  their  possession.  And 
of  them  we  may  still  more  definitely  speak. 

Gabala,  mentioned  by  Ptolemy  (Gebal  of  the  Greeks), 
was  one  of  the  maritime  towns  of  Phoenicia,  between  Ara- 
dus  and  Laodicea.  In  his  account  of  the  Arvadiles,  as  one 
of  ike  families  of  the  Canaanites,  Bochart,  unbiased  by  any 
opposing  theory  on  another  theme  than  the  borders  of  Isra¬ 
el,  states  that  Gabala  was  probably  Gebal  mentioned  in 
Ezekiel’s  description  of  the  greatness  of  Tyre.  Gebal 
seems  plainly  to  announce  itself  as  the  capital  of  the  Gib- 
lites,  concerning  which  there  seems  not  to  be  a  question  ; 
and  Bochart  is  free  to  testify  that  Gebala  is  probably  the 
Gebal  of  Scripture.  The  English  translation  has  retained, 
with  obvious  propriety,  the  original  Hebrew  word.  But  as 
the  River  of  Egypt  was  transformed,  rather  than  translated, 
into  Rhinocorura,  the  Septuagint  has  changed  Gebal  into 
Byblus,  and  the  Giblites  into  Bublioi  (Bv6?itoi.).  Byblus 
otherwise  bears  the  names  of  Esbeli,  Gibyle,  or  Jebeil ;  and 
it  is  said  by  Maundrel  and  others — following  the  Septua¬ 
gint,  from  which  he  quotes* — to  be  probably  the  country  of 
the  Giblites,  though,  as  Pococke  states,  “  the  names  Gib¬ 
lites  and  Gebal,  according  to  our  literal  translation  from  the 
Hebrew,  would  incline  to  think  that  Gabala,  north  of  Ortho- 
sia,  was  meant.”!  Gebal  or  Gabala,  now  Jebilee  or  Gibili,! 
has  uniformly  borne  from  ancient  to  modern  times  the  same 
name  (the  locality  being  precisely  the  same),  so  slightly 
changed  as  not  to  admit  of  a  doubt  as  to  its  identity. 

Even  if  Byblus,  or  Jebeil,  was  the  chief  city  of  the  Gib¬ 
lites,  whose  land  lies  within  the  inheritance  of  Israel,  that 
fact  alone  annihilates  the  assumption  that  the  valley  of  the 

*  Maundrel’s  Trav.,  p.  45.  t  Pococke ’s  Descrip,  of  the  East,  p.  98. 

t  Map  in  G;  Robinson’s  Trav.  in  Syria. 

H2 


90 


THE  BOUNDARIES  OF 


Leontes  is  “  the  entrance  into  Hamath,”  or  “  the  north  end” 
of  the  promised  heritage  ;  for  even  Byblus  is  above  seventy 
miles  north  of  the  entrance  of  that  river  into  the  sea,  and 
therefore  as  far  beyond  the  ancient  northern  border  of 
Israel. 

But  not  only  is  it  “  probable  that  Gabala  was  the  ancient 
Gebal,”  but  it  is  certain  that  the  country  of  which  it  was 
the  capital  lay  in  the  immediate  vicinity,  if  it  did  not  form  a 
part,  of  the  land  of  the  Arvadites,  one  of  the  families  of  the 
Canaanites*  all  whose  territories  that  were  unoccupied  by 
the  Israelites  at  the  death  of  Joshua  were  included  in  the 
land  that  then  remained  to  be  possessed.  Not  only  all  the 
Sidonians,  who  were  descended  of  the  first-born  of  Canaan, 
but  ALL  the  land  of  the  Canaanites,  is  expressly  named  by 
the  Lord,  and  included  in  the  very  much  land  which  the  Is¬ 
raelites  did  not  occupy  in  the  days  of  Joshua,  or  ever  after. 
The  Arvadite  was  one  of  the  families  of  the  Canaanites,  as 
much  as  any  other.f  Translating  literally  from  Bochart, 
we  read  that  “  the  Arvadites,  or  Aradites,  occupied  the  isl¬ 
and  of  Aradus  on  the  coast  of  Phmnicia,  and  part  of  the 
neighbouring  continent,  where  are  Antaradus,  Marathus, 
and  LaodiceaS  Hence  the  Jerusalem  interpreter  (or  Tar- 
gum  of  Jerusalem)  has  for  the  Arvadites  Anlardios, 

and  Jonathan  ’’NDD’b,  corruptly  for  ''Noni'?,  i.  e.,  Laodicenses. 
Near  to  Laodicea,  says  Strabo,  are  Posidium,  Heraclium, 
Gebala  (Gebal,  Ezek.,  xxvii.,  9)  ;  then  the  maritime  region 
of  the  Aradi,  Paltus,  Balanea,  and  Caranus,  afterward  Eny- 
dra  and  Marathus,  an  ancient  Phoenician  city.  The  famous 
city  of  Tripoli  (three  cities),  according  to  Scylax  (in  Perip- 
lo),  Strabo,  Diodorus,  and  Pliny,  was  built  by  the  Aradi 
(Arvadites),  the  Tyrians,  and  Sidonians.”;]:  These  cities 
along  the  Phoenician  coast,  pertaining  to  the  Arvadites,  lead 
us  near  to  its  northern  termination,  or  close  by  the  site  of 
Mount  Casius  and  the  mouth  of  the  Orontes,  the  position  of 
which  is  marked  by  these  eminent  ancient  geographers  as 
between  Laodicea  and  Seleucia.  It  is  worthy  also  of  re¬ 
mark,  that  Giblites  literally  mean  borderers ;  and  that  the 
land  of  the  Giblites  and  Canaanites  (all  included  in  Israel) 
brings  us  thus,  in  passing,  according  to  scriptural  guidance, 
along  the  loestern  border,  or  the  great  sea,  till  the  entrance 
into  Hamath  may  be  sought  for,  close  to  the  mouth,  not  of 
the  Leontes,  but  of  the  Orontes. 

*  The  Arvadites,  Gen.,  x.,  18.  t  Gen.,  x.,  18. 

t  Vide  Bochart,  Phaleg.,  p.  305,  306. 


THE  PROMISED  LAND. 


91 


But  other  families  of  the  Canaanites  dwelt  on  the  coast 
of  Phoenicia,  to  the  north  of  the  kingdom  of  Sidon  ;  and  it 
may  be  clearly  seen  what  vast  acquisitions  beyond  all  that 
their  fathers  possessed  have  to  be  made  by  Israel.  That 
coast,  more  than  any  other  on  earth,  was  studded  with  mag¬ 
nificent  cities  ;  and  there  is  no  portion  of  it  to  which  their 
scriptural  title  may  not  be  clearly  shown. 

After  the  death  of  Joshua,  it  is  recorded  that  Asher  did 
not  drive  out  the  inhabitants  of  Accho  (Ptolemais),  nor  the 
inhabitants  of  Zidon,  &;c.,  which  lay  within  the  lot  of  that 
tribe,  that  included  also  the  strong  city  of  Tyre,  which,  in¬ 
stead  of  being  possessed  by  the  Israelites  as  theirs,  had  its 
own  king  in  the  days  of  Solomon.  All  the  Sidonians  were 
included  in  the  land  that  remained  to  be  possessed  ;  and  the 
unreserved  and  unrestricted  term,  “  all  the  land  of  the  Ca¬ 
naanites,”  clearly  comprehends  within  Israel’s  everlasting 
possession  all  the  Canaanitish  territory,  besides  that  of  the 
Sidonians  and  all  that  the  Israelites  had  previously  occupi¬ 
ed.  There  was  no  exception  of  any  of  the  Canaanites,  nor 
of  a  foot-breadth  of  their  land. 

Clear  as  this  fact  is,  there  is  as  little  difficulty  or  doubt 
in  ascertaining  that  very  much  land  of  the  Canaanites 
stretched  along  the  Phoenician  shore.  Sidon,  Area,  Simyra, 
Arad  or  Arvad,  announce  themselves  as  the  respective  cap¬ 
itals  of  the  Sidonians,  Arkites,  Zemarites,  and  Arvadites, 
four  of  the  twelve  families  of  the  Canaanites  ;  while  Jebilee, 
or  Gibili,  has  ever  retained  its  ancient  name  as  the  capital 
of  the  Giblites. 

From  simply  reversing  the  order  of  the  Itinerary  of  An¬ 
toninus,  corresponding  with  that  of  Jerusalem,  and  introdu¬ 
cing  from  Ptolemy’s  Geography  the  name  of  a  single  city 
(not  included  in  the  Itinerary,  as  it  lay  five  miles  to  the 
west  of  the  road  which  it  denotes),  the  reader  may  perceive 
what  light  is  thrown  by  heathen  records  on  the  position  of 
those  lands  which  remain  to  he  possessed.  What  and  how 
extensive  they  there  are,  may  thus  be  seen  at  a  glance,  the 
distance  being  marked  in  Roman  miles. 


Sidon  to  Berytus  (Beyrout) .  30 

“  Byblus . 34 

“  Tripoli .  36 

“  (Simyra)  . 

“  Area  (from  Tripoli) .  18 

“  Ant-Aradus  (Arvad) . .  32 

“  Balanea .  24 

“  Gabala . 27 

Laodicea... . .  18 


219 


92 


THE  BOUNDARIES  OF 

Thusyroffi  the  south  much  land  remained  to  be  possessed, 
and  it  can  only  be  beyond  these  regions  that  the  real  north¬ 
ern  border  lies.  They  embrace  the  whole  of  the  Phoenician 
coast  to  the  north  of  Sidon,  from  the  southern  extremity  of 
Lebanon  to  the  termination  of  the  Anzeyry  Mountains,  or  all 
Lebanon  and  the  hill-country  to  the  entrance  into  Hamath, 
which  necessarily  lies  beyond  all  the  land  of  the  Canaanites. 

That  the  territories  of  these  Canaanitish  nations  met, 
even  where  their  capitals  were  farthest  separate,  may  be 
manifest  from  the  facts  that  the  great  Sidon,  as  it  is  denomi¬ 
nated  by  ancient  geographers  as  in  Scripture,  was  situated 
near  to  the  one  extremity  of  Lebanon,  and  Area  on  the  oth¬ 
er,  and  that  the  Sidonians  and  Arvadites  had  each  a  portion 
of  the  city  of  Tripoli. 

The  site  of  Area  (of  which  more  in  the  sequel)  is  un 
doubted  ;  the  testimonies  of  Ptolemy  and  Antoninus,  of  Wil- 
lerm,  archbishop  of  Tyre,  and  of  Dr.  Shaw  and  Burckhardt, 
&;c.,  correspond  precisely  concerning  it.  In  the  Itinerary 
it  is  placed,  as  above,  at  the  distance  of  eighteen  miles  from 
Tripoli,  and  by  Burckhardt  at  about  five  hours  and  a  half, 
which,  at  the  usual  rate  of  three  miles  an  hour,  is  the  same. 
It  was  a  strong  and  wealthy  city  at  the  close  of  the  eleventh 
century,  and  its  inhabitants  at  first  feared  not  to  assault  ma¬ 
rauding  crusaders. 

That  it  was  the  capital  of  the  Arkites  is  equally  clear. 
According  to  the  tradition  of  the  ancients,  Willerm  says,  it 
was  built  by  Archeus  (or  Arkeus),the  seventh  son  of  Cana¬ 
an,  from  which  it  took  its  name.*  Bochart,  in  his  account 
of  the  Canaanites,  states  in  positive  terms,  as  beyond  ques¬ 
tion,  thut  the  Arkites  possessed  Arka  or  Area,  a  city  situa¬ 
ted  in  Lebanon,  of  which  mention  is  made  by  Ptolemy  and 
Josephus.  In  it,  according  to  Macrobius  Sturnal  (lib.  i.,  c. 
27),  was  the  temple  of  Venus  Archites.f  As  Hamath,  an¬ 
other  chief  city  of  the  Canaanites,  owned  the  sovereignty 
of  Solomon,  so  also,  as  Josephus  testifies,  did  Area,  where 
one  of  his  governors  was  stationed,  who  had  the  seacoast 
about  Arce.|:  Its  ruins  were  visited  by  Dr.  Shaw,  who  terms 
it  the  city  of  the  Arkites,  the  offspring  of  Canaan  ;  and  he 
mentions,  in  like  manner,  Simyra  .as  the  seat  of  the  Zema- 
rites.§ 

“  All  the  Sidonians,  all  the  land  of  the  Canaanites  and  the 

*  Will.  Tyr.,  Hist.,  p.  737.  t  Boch.,  Phaleg'.,  p.  305. 
t  Josephus,  Aut.,  viii.,  2,  3.  ^  Shaw’s  Travels,  p.  327,  edit.  Oxford,  173R 


THE  PROMISED  LAND. 


93 


Gibilites”  t-hat  remained  and  still  remain  to  be  possessed, 
thus  occupied  successively  and  conjointly  the  Syrian  and 
Phoenician  coast  for  the  space  of  2 19  Roman  miles,  exclusive 
of  the  land  pertaining  to  these  cities  that  lay  to  the  south  of 
Sidon  and  the  north  of  Laodicea. 

Instead  of  limiting  the  northern  border  to  Dan,  the  need¬ 
ful  proof  may  be  given,  that  before  reaching  the  entrance 
into  Hamath,  or  ascending  the  mountain  from  whence  it  has 
first  to  be  seen,  much  land,  as  that  word  came  worthily  from 
the  mouth  of  the  Lord,  remained  to  he  possessed. 

Wherever  the  children  of  Israel  entered  the  land  of  their 
enemies  to  keep  it  as  their  own,  they  changed  the  names 
of  the  cities.  But  all  these  names  remaining  unchanged  de¬ 
clared  at  once  their  Canaanitish  origin,  and  that  the  time  is 
yet  to  come  when  all  these  lands  shall  actually  form  a  por¬ 
tion  of  the  inheritance  of  Israel. 

But  in  the  interior  of  the  country,  as  well  as  along  the 
Phoenician  coast,  much  land  remained  to  be  possessed  after 
Dan  had  become  a  city  of  Israel. 

“  Syria  of  Damascus”  bordered  wdth  ancient  Israel  on  the 
north,  and  be^yond  it  lay  the  land  of  Hamath.  “  The  border 
of  Damascus,”  “  the  border  of  Hamath,”  manifestly  denote 
not  the  cities,  between  which  an  extensive  region,  contain¬ 
ing  several  noble  cities,  intervened,*  but  the  borders  of  these 
two  countries  or  kingdoms,  which  touched  each  other,  and 
which  embraced  wide-extended  territories. 

Damascus  was  the  metropolis  of  a  kingdom  and  the  head 
of  Syria. t  Though  Hadad-ezer  Was  defeated  by  David, 
his  successors  reigned  at  Dantascus  as  kings  of  Syria  for 
ten  generations,;!;  and  Israel  had  not  long  the  mastery  over 
Syria.  It  was  laid  waste,  and  Samaria  was  grievously  be¬ 
sieged  by  the  King  of  Syria,  who  reirned  at  Damascus  ; 
and  “  Israel  was  delivered  into  the  nand  of  Hazael,  and 
into  the  hand  of  Benhadad  his  son,  all  their  days.”<^  Strabo 
speaks  of  the  renowned  region,  as  well  as  of  the  noble  city 
of  Damascus.!  Numerous  coins  exist  which  show  that  in 

*  These  cities,  with  their  respective  distances,  are  noted  in  the  Itinerary  of  An¬ 
toninus.  From  Damascus  to  Abila,  18  Roman  miles ;  from  Abila  to  Heliopolis  (Ba- 
nlbec),  38;  from  Heliopolis  to  Lybon,  32  ;  from  Lybon  to  Laodicea  (ad  Libanum),  32 ; 
horn  Laodicea  to  Emesa,  18;  from  Emesa  to  Areihusa,  16;  from  Arethusa  to  Epi- 
phania,  or  Hamath,  16— or,  in  all,  170  miles. — Vide  in  Chalcidina,  et  Cielosyria,  Itin- 
er.  Antonini  Augusti,  p.  11,  12,  edit.  Amstetodami,  1619. 

t  Isa.,  vii.,  8.  t  Nicolas  of  Damascus,  quoted  by  Josephus,  Ant.,  vii.,  5,  2. 

1)  2  Kings,  xiii.,  3. 

II  'H  ^a^aaKrivr]  5ia<pepovT(iJi  eiraivoviievrj  tort  6c  Kai  t)  AanaaKOS  iraiXis 


94 


THE  BOUNDARIES  OF 


the  times  of  the  Caesars  it  was  “  the  metropolis  of  the  Da¬ 
mascenes,”  and  the  metropolis  of  the  colony  of  Damascus 
— the  name  of  the  country  being  Damascene.*  Not  only 
does  Hamath  lie  on  its  farther  side  from  Israel’s  ancient 
border,  and  not  only  did  David  and  Solomon  exercise  a 
sovereignty  over  it,  and  seek  their  “  borders”  far  beyond  it, 
but  such  is  the  change  to  be  yet  wrought  by  one  word  of 
promise,  that  the  southern  border  of  Dan,  in  the  land  yet  to 
be  possessed,  is  fixed  on  the  border  of  Damascus  north¬ 
ward,!  whereas  its  north  border  (which  antiquarians  are 
so  fearful  to  pass)  anciently  lay  on  the  south  border  of  Da¬ 
mascus.  Beyond  that  renowned  region  ample  space  must 
be  found  for  a  whole  tribe  of  Israel,  when  the  land  shall 
overfow  for  the  multitude  of  men. 

Hamath  was  the  capital  of  the  Hamathites,  one  of  the 
families  of  the  Canaanites,  all  whose  lands,  though  not  pos¬ 
sessed  at  the  death  of  Joshua  or  in  past  ages,  pertain  to 
Israel  by  promise.  It  formed  a  part  of  the  kingdom  of  Is¬ 
rael,  though  not  of  the  land  which  the  seed  of  Jacob  occu¬ 
pied  as  their  own  in  full  possession.  Not  only  did  Solo¬ 
mon  build  store-cities  in  Hamath,  but  Jeroboam  recovered 
Damascus  and  Hamath,  which  belonged  to  Judah,  for  Israel. 
He  restored  the  coast  of  \sra.^i.  from  the  entering  in  of 
Hamath  unto  the  sea  of  the  plain.! 

Hamath  and  its  land,  once  a  kingdom,  thus  pertains  to 
the  promised  inheritance.  In  that  region  the  Euphrates 
approaches  comparatively  near  to  the  Mediterranean  ;  and 
as  these  form  “  the  sides  east  and  west,”  the  portion  of  a 
tribe  calls  for  comparatively  larger  bounds  from  south  to 
north.  “  From  the  north  end  to  the  coaSt  of  the  way  of 
Hethlon,  as  one  goeth  to  Hamath,  Hazar-enan ;  the  border 
of  Damascus  northward,  to  the  coast  of  Hamath  ;  for  these 
are  his  sides  east  and  west,  a  portion  for  Dan.”  Conjoined 
as  the  north-northward,  or  far  north,  is  with  the  northern 
border  of  Damascus  and  the  border  of  Hamath,  the  north 
end  of  the  Israelitish  inheritance,  when  it  shall  all  be  their 
own,  may  not,  or,  rather,  cannot  come  short  of  the  north 


aJtoXoyoj  <t%£5ov  rt  Kai  eirKpaviarar]  re  ravrifl  Kara  ra  TlzpaiKa.  Damascenus  ager 
apprime  nobilitatus.  Damascus  urbs  est  insignis,  omnium  fore  nobilissima,  quas  in 
ea  sunt  regione,  Persis  vicina. — Strabo,  p.  1074. 

*  Nummi  hujus  civitatis  plures  prostant — August!  AAMASKHNflN,  Damasce 
norum:  Commodi  MHTPOilOAEjQC  AAMACKHNflN,  Metropoleos  Damasceno 
rum:  Caracallaj  KOAfiNlAC  AAMACKOY  MHTPOH,  Colonite  Damasci  me 
tropolis,  &c. — Cellar.,  Geograph.  Ant.,  tom.  ii.,  p.  270. 
t  Ezek.,  xlviii.,  1. 


i  2  Kings,  xiv.,  25-28. 


THE  PROMISED  LAND. 


95 


end  of  that  land  which  once  owned  the  supremacy  of  Israel, 
and  formed  a  part  of  its  coast  as  a  subjugated  country,  and 
which  bore  the  name  of  a  family  of  the  Canaaniles — as  its 
ancient  capital  still  does — all  whose  land  Israel  was  finally 
to  possess. 

Hamath,  as  Josephus  states,  was  called  Epiphania  by  the 
Macedonians.  Jerome  says  that  it  received  that  name  from 
Antiochus,  by  which  it  was  afterward  known  to  the  Greeks 
and  Romans.  He  marks  its  site  as  near  to  Emesa,  with 
which  it  has  erroneously  been  identified  by  some  geogra¬ 
phers.  For  in  the  Syrian  language  it  never  lost  its  original 
name ;  but,  on  the  other  hand,  having  long  lost  its  Greek 
appellation,  it  is  known  only  as  Hamah,  the  expletive  term 
attached  to  which,  as  in  modern  maps,  is  Epiphania.  Abul- 
feda,  the  celebrated  geographer,  who  himself  was  its  prince 
(in  the  fourteenth  century),  calls  it  “  an  ancient  city,  of 
which  mention  is  made  in  the  books  of  the  Israelites.”* 
Its  site  is  well  known  in  the  valley  and  on  the  banks 
of  the  Orontes.  The  Orontes  bore  the  name  of  Nahr 
Chamat,  or  River  of  Hamath, \  through  the  midst  of  which 
it  flowed.  It  was  also  called  Nahr  al  Maklub  (the  river 
reversed),  because,  as  Abulfeda  states  the  reason,  it  flowed 
from  the  south  to  the  north,  in  an  opposite  direction  to  the 
Leontes,  the  Jordan,  and  the  Euphrates.  Lebanon,  and  the 
hill-country  beyond  it,  intervening,  it  found  no  other  course 
to  the  sea  but  that  which  was  the  reverse  of  theirs.  Ha¬ 
math  has  not  only  retained  its  original  name,  but  has  also 
somewhat  resumed  its  comparative  importance,  though  it 
retains  but  a  shadow  of  its  ancient  greatness.  It  is  the 
largest  and  most  populous  town  on  the  banks  of  the  Oron- 
tes,|  while  Antioch,  that  long  outrivalled  it,  is  in  ruins  ; 
and  with  a  name  not  limited  to  a  spot,  there  still  exists, 
though  within  narrowed  bounds,  “  the  government  of  Ha¬ 
mah,”  which,  when  visited  by  Burckhardt  in  1814,  com¬ 
prised,  in  a  thinly-peopled  and  “  little  cultivated”  country, 
“  about  one  hundred  and  twenty  inhabited  villages,  and 
seventy  or  eighty  which  have  been  abandoned.”^ 

Jerome,  without  questioning  its  identity  with  Epiphania, 
which  he  repeatedly  asserts,  distinguishes  it  from  Hamath 
the  Great,  spoken  of  by  the  Prophet  Amos,  which  name  he 

*  Abulfeda,  Tabula  S)Tiae,  p.  108.  t  Ibid.,  p.  149. 

t  “  The  town  (Hamah)  is  of  considerable  extent,  and  must  contain  at  least  thirty 
thousand  inhabitants.”--Burckhardt’s  Syria,  p.  146, 

^  Burckhardt’s  Syria,  p.  147. 


96 


THE  BOUNDARIES  OF 


applies  to  Antioch,  that  had  been  for  ages  not  only  the 
chief  city  in  the  land  of  Hamath,  but  the  capital  of  the  As¬ 
syrian  Empire.  It  was  called  “the  great,”  as  he  relates, 
“to  distinguish  it  from  the  lesser  Hamath  (Emath),  which 
is  called  Epiphania,”  The  name  of  the  region  in  the  vicinity* 
of  Antioch  was  called  Rehletka^  which  he  identifies  with 
Riblah  in  the  land  of  Hamathf  repeatedly  mentioned  in 
Scripture,  and  subsequently  named  Antioch,  after  Antiochus. 
It  became,  assuredly,  the  greatest  city  in  the  land,  and 
might  well  have  taken  the  name  of  Hamath  the  Great.  It 
was  early  the  resort  of  Egyptian  and  of  Babylonish  kings  ; 
thither  Zedekiah,  king  of  Judah,  was  led  captive  ;  and  there 
his  eyes  were  put  out,  after  they  had  witnessed  the  slaugh¬ 
ter  of  his  sons.  Antioch  was  afterward  the  seat  of  Assyrian 
raonarchs  and  of  Roman  emperors.  It  is  accounted,  by  the 
most  ancient  Jewish  writers,  the  capital  of  Hamath.  The 
learned  Bochart,  in  the  preface  to  his  Sacred  Geography, 
identifies  Riblah  (which  assuredly  was  in  the  land  of  Ha¬ 
math)  with  Antioch,  and  Hamath  with  Epiphania. f  And 
as  Solomon  not  only  built  store-cities  in  Hamath,  but  went 
to  Hamath-ze6«^,  and  prevailed  against  it,  or  maintained  his 
sovereignty  over  it,  as  lying  within  the  bounds  of  his  do¬ 
minions,  it  may  not  be  unworthy  of  notice,  that  “the  fount¬ 
ain  of  Zof6a,”  in  the  vicinity  of  Antioch,  retains  its  name. 

Though  there  be  thus  some  discordance  of  opinion  re¬ 
specting  the  town  of  Hamath,  there  is  none  concerning  the 
land.  Epiphania  and  Antioch  were  both  situated  in  the 
same  country,  and  on  the  banks  of  the  same  river,  which 
was  called  the  River  Chamat,  or  Hamath.  Were  there  two 
separate  entrances  from  the  sea  to  these  cities  north  of 
Hamah,  a  question  might  then  be  raised  as  to  the  proper 
border  of  Israel’s  inheritance.  But  the  valley  of  the  Orontes 
is  so  hemmed  in  on  the  western  side  by  a  hill-country^  or 
long,  continuous  mountain  chain,  from  beyond  Hamah  to 
Antioch,  called  Hamath  the  Great,  that  there  is  but  one 
entrance  from  the  sea  to  them  both  that  can  have  any  claim 
to  be  reckoned  the  north  border  of  Israel.  The  entering  in 
of  Hamath  is  the  bounding  line,  and  not  the  city  itself,  in 
whatever  quarter  of  the  land  it  stood. 

Strange  indeed  it  may  seem,  and  the  fact  would  be  imac- 


*  Reblatha,  sive  urbs  quae  nunc  Antiochiam  vocant. — Hieron.  de  situ  et  reonotiiinibut 
locorum  Hebratenrum,  tom.  iii.,  p.  263. 
t  Ribla  et  Hamatha,  id  est,  Antiochia  et  Epiphania. — Boch.,  prasf.,  41. 


THE  PROMISED  LAND, 


97 


countable,  were  not  a  false  theory  thereby  maintained,  that 
the  highest  authorities  in  scriptural  geography  among  Chris¬ 
tian  writers  in  modern  times  could  have  stumbled  in  a  path 
so  plain.  Instead  of  seeking  the  entrance  into  Hamath 
wherever  it  could  truly  be  found,  Bochart,  Cellarius,  and 
many  others  discard  the  testimony  of  Jewish  writers,  be¬ 
cause  they  fix  the  northern  borders  far  beyond  the  ancient 
bounds,  and  believed  that  they  reached  to  Antioch. 

“  'Fhe  Hamathites”  (descendants  of  Canaan),  says  Bo¬ 
chart,  “  were  the  inhabitants  of  Hamath,  of  which  Antioch 
was  the  capital,  if  we  believe  Olyinpiodorus  and  the  para- 
phrasts  (or  commentaries)  of  Jonathan  and  of  Jerusalem,  and 
Rabbin  Solomon.  But  opposed  to  this  is  the  fact  that,  in 
Scripture,  the  northern  boundary  of  the  Holy  Land  is  often 
fixed  at  the  entrance  into  Hamath,  which  no  one  skilled  in 
the  geography  of  the  country  can  affirm  to  have  reached 
unto  Antioch.”*"  The  difficulty,  as  he  states,  is  easily  solv¬ 
ed  from  Jerome,  Antioch  being  “  Hamath  the  Great,”  and 
Epiphania  Hamath.  And  he  rather  inadvertently  adds,  that 
though  the  former  city  was  far  remote  from  the  boundaries 
of  the  Jews,  Epiphania  was  not  very  distant. 

No  one,  indeed,  who  know's  where  those  cities  stood,  can 
say  that  Dan  bordered  on  Antioch,  or  that  the  ancient  bound¬ 
ary  of  the  Holy  Land  lay  near  to  the  capital  of  the  Assyr¬ 
ian  Empire.  But  every  one  acquainted  with  the  geogra¬ 
phy^  of  Syria  can  tell  that  with  the  intervening  distance  of 
more  than  a  hundred  and  fifty  miles,  Dan  was  as  far  from 
Epiphania  on  the  north  as  from  Beersheba  on  the  south. 
And  every  one  who  gives  due  heed  to  scriptural  testimony 
must  know,  as  the  Lord  himself  has  declared,  that  very 
much  land,  including  kingdoms,  lay'-  beyond  the  ancient  fron¬ 
tier  of  Israel,  which  belongs  to  the  promised  inheritance. 
And  the  fact  admitted  by  IBochart,  that  Antioch  lay  in  the 
land  of  Hamath,  may  possibly  aid  in  the  solution  of  the  only 
question  now  worthy  o-f  consideration,  viz.,  where  the  en¬ 
trance  into  Hamath  really’'  is ;  for  that,  and  that  alone,  can 
determine  where  is  the  border  of  the  heritage  of  Israel  on 
the  coast  of  the  Mediterranean. 

Hitherto  we  have  passed  along  the  west  border,  or  the 
shores  of  the  Great  Sea,  till  we  have  seen  that  much  land, 
as  defined,  remained  to  be  possessed;  and — with  the  sea  on 
one  side,  and  a  hill-country  on  the  other,  first  the  Lebanon, 

*  Bochart,  Phaleg.,  p.  307. 

I 


98 


THE  BOUA'UARIEri  (;F 


and  afterward,  as  every  map  shows,  the  Anzeyry  Mountain  j 
— till  we  have  reached  the  territory  over  against  Hamath,  and 
seek  from  thence  an  entrance  into  that  land  ;  and  after  hav-  » 
ing  passed  the  countries  of  the  Sidonians,  Arkites,  Arva- 
dites,  and  Giblites,  and  approached  to  the  mouth  of  the  Cron-  j* 
tes,  in  the  midland  region  of  Northern  Syria,  we  have  trav-  '■ 
ersed  the  kingdom  of  Damascus  to  reach  the  destined  south-  y 
ern  border  of  the  tribe  of  Dan.  We  have  passed  to  Hamath, 
which  itself,  with  its  kingdom,  owned  of  old,  and  must  for-  ‘ 
ever  own,  the  sovereignty  of  Israel,  and  be  a  portion  of  their  ! 

possession,  as  well  as  a  part  of  their  coast ;  and  from  thence  ! 

we  have  looked  in  vain  for  any  opening  in  the  mountainous 
range  by  which  the  Orontes  could  flow  into  the  Mediterra¬ 
nean,  or  an  entrance  be  found  from  it  into  the  land  of  Ha¬ 
math,  till  Antioch  is  reached,  and  another  mountain  chain, 
stretching  across  the  land,  forbids  our  farther  progress.  But  | 
to  the  Great  Sea  we  must  return,  to  seek,  by  the  guidance 
of  the  word  that  never  errs,  and  that  misleads  none  who, 
with  a  single  eye  and  steady  step,  do  closely  follow  it,  to 
find  an  entrance  into  Hamath  from  thence,  or  the  place 
where  the  western  border  of  Israel  terminates  and  the  north 
begins.  And  here  we  need  not  seek  in  vain,  but  have  only 
to  look  to  the  very  high  mountain  which  the  Divine  word 
points  out,  ascending  which  the  entrance  into  Hamath  lies 
at  our  feet,  and  at  once  an  open  way  is  there,  and  there 
only,  seen,  from  the  Great  Sea  into  the  land  of  Hamath. 

Where,  then,  according  to  the  scriptural  definition  of  its 
locality,  is  the  entrance  into  Hamath  ?  or  what  defined  line 
is  there,  if  any  there  be,  which  has  a  paramount  and  exclu¬ 
sive  right  to  bear  that  name,  and  which,  as  that  very  thing 
which  Scripture  calls  it,  suffices  as  a  marked  and  distinct¬ 
ive  border  of  that  “  everlasting  possession”  which  God  gave 
to  Abraham,  to  Isaac,  and  to  Jacob,  and  to  their  seed  forever  ? 

How  is  it  to  be  found,  or,  in  other  words,  what  saith  the 
Scripture  ? 

This  shall  he  your  north  border ;  from  the  great  sea  ye 
shall  point  out  for  you  Mount  Hor  (Heb.,  Hor-ha-hor) ;  from 
Mount  Hor  ye  shall  point  out  unto  the  entrance  into  Hamath. 

“  The  west  side  also  shall  be  the  great  sea,  till  a  man  come 
over  against  Hamath.”  “  And  this  shall  be  the  border  of 
the  land  towards  the  north  side,  from  the  great  sea,  the  way 
of  Hethlon,  as  men  go  to  Zedad,  Hamath,  Berothah,  &lc. 
From  the  north  end  to  the  coast  of  the  way  of  Hethlon,  as 
one  goeth  to  Hamath, &c. 


THE  PROMISED  LAND. 


99 


The  entrance  into  Hamath  is  thus  manifestly  from  the 
great  sea,  or  the  Mediterranean  ;  and  the  limits  of  the  west 
border  along  the  coast  are  not  to  be  sought  till  a  man  come 
over  against  Hamath.  Here,  then,  Lebanon  is  passed  ;  for 
Hamath  lies  on  the  east  of  the  Anzeyry  Mountains.  The 
special  direction  is,  from  the  great  sea  ye  shall  point  out  for 
you  Mount  Hor,  or  Hor-ha-hor.  Hor,  in  Hebrew,  signifies 
mountain ;  and  a  repetition  of  the  same  word,  according  to 
the  Hebrew  idiom,  denotes  the  superlative  degree.  It  is 
thus  translated  in  the  Vulgate,  or  common  Latin  version  of 
the  Old  Testament,  a  very  high  mountain,  and  the  passage  is 
rendered,  “  coming  even  to  a  very  high  mountain,  from  lohich 
they  go  into  Emaihi'* 

Lebanon,  and  the  territory  of  the  Gihlites,  and  all  the 
land  of  the  Canaanites  on  the  coast,  had  to  be  passed  be¬ 
fore  such  a  mountain  could  be  reached,  however  conspicu¬ 
ously  it  might  rise  to  view.  Captains  Irby  and  Mangles, 
advancing  from  south  to  north  along  the  Phoenician  coast, 
without  the  thought  of  bearing  testimony  concerning  the 
borders  of  Israel,  or  previously  of  looking  for  any  such 
mountain  there,  thus  connect,  in  the  same  paragraph,  the 
brief  notice  of  Gabala  (or  Gebal),  of  the  vast  plain  bounded 
by  mountains  (which  intervened  between  them  and  Hamath, 
opposite  to  it  as  then  they  were),  and  of  the  most  conspicu¬ 
ous  object  before  them,  after  Lebanon  was  passed.  “  At 
Jibilee,  the  ancient  Gabala,  are  Roman  ruins,  the  principal 
of  which  are  the  remains  of  a  fine  theatre  at  the  north  side 
of  the  town.  The  whole  journey  from  Tripoli — with  a  sin¬ 
gle  exception  near  Markab,  where  the  coast  is  rocky — is 
along  a  vast  plain  at  the  foot  of  the  Ansanar  (Anzeyryf) 
Mountains.  Mount  Lebanon  was  in  sight  the  w'hole  way 
from  Tripoli.  Mount  Casius  was  before 

The  reader,  in  quest  of  the  entrance  into  Hamath  from 
the  sea,  must  remember  his  position  here,  that,  as  Captains 
Irby  and  Mangles  were  acltially  doing,  he  journeys  north¬ 
ward  along  the  Mediterranean  shore,  in  the  land  of  the  Ar- 
vadites,  who  were  Canaanites,  or  of  the  Gihlites,  all  of 
which  lay  within  the  promised  heritage  of  Jacob’s  seed,  sit¬ 
uated  directly  opposite  ^o  Hamath  ;  the  Anzeyry  Mountains, 
beyond  which  it  lay,  shutting  out  wholly  that  land  from  - 


*  Pervenientes  usque  ad  montem  altissimura,  a  quo  venient  in  Emath. 
t  Burckhardt’s  orthography  is  adopted, 
i  Captains  Irby  and  Mangrles’  Travels,  p.  222,  223. 


100 


THE  BOUNDARIES  OF 


view,  and  separating  it  from  the  Phoenician  plain.  And  to 
know  where  the  entrance  into  Hamath  is  to  be  found,  he  has 
not,  even  where  he  stands,  to  look  for  it,  but,  iti  obedience 
to  the  Divine  direction,  to  use  the  prescribed  means  of  find¬ 
ing  it.  From  the  great  sea  ye  shall  point  oMTjor  you  a  very 
high  mountain.  That  is  literally  the  yoint  for  which  he  has 
to  look.  The  eye  has  not  to  wander  inland  over  a  wide 
mountainous  range,  stretching  for  more  than  a  hundred 
miles  ;  but  a  very  high  mountain  has  to  be  pointed  out,  a 
precise  place  has  to  be  fixed  on,  from  whence — it  may  be 
from  whence  alone  on  all  the  northern  Phoenician  shore — 
the  entrance  into  Hamath  has  next  to  be  pointed  out  or  to  be 
seen.  Such  a  high  mountain,  to  be  there  singled  out  from 
the  sea,  may,  or,  rather,  inust  be  seen  also  on  its  coast,  there 
to  stand  alone  or  unrivalled  as  a  landmark,  and  as  a  point 
commanding  an  inland  view.  Such  a  mountain  is  Casius. 
While  Lebanon  was  still  in  view,  though  left  behind,  no 
other  mountain  is  seen  along  the  shore  to  compete  in  height 
with  Casius  ;  nay,  the  whole  land  is  there  a  plain — the  great 
plain,  as  it  is  called  ;  and,  terminating  the  last  of  the  lahd 
of  the  Canaanites  that  dwelt  in  Phoenicia,  Mount  Casius  is 
ever  in  the  eye  of  the  traveller  journeying  northward,  and, 
as  if  without  a  competitor  or  rival  claimant,  is  ever  before 
him  in  the  maritime  territory  opposite  to  Hamath.  The  in¬ 
quirer  has  to  hold  on  his  way  along  the  coast  of  the  great 
sea,  and  cannot  leave  it,  or  reach  the  proper,  because  pre¬ 
scribed,  point,  till  such  a  mountain  be  found,  from  which 
again  he  has  to  point  out  the  entrance  into  Hamath.  That 
Mount  Casius,  which  can  thus  be  pointed  out,  upon  the  coast 
and  in  the  proper  direction,  along  all  the  region  in  which 
alone  the  required  mountain  can  be  rightly  looked  for,  an¬ 
swers  all  the  conditions  of  the  problem,  admits  of  a  demon¬ 
stration  that  may  be  said  to  be  ocular  ;  and  the  distance  at 
which  it  is  seen,  while  Lebanon,  which  had  been  passed,  is 
at  the  same  time  in  view,  might  alone  prove  its  title  to  the 
name  of  Hor-ha-hor,  or  a  very  high  mountain. 

After  passing  over  hills  richly  wooded,  without  descend¬ 
ing  into  a  plain.  Captains  Irby  and  Mangles  reposed  during 
night  in  the  village  of  Lourdee,  irt  an  elevated  situation,  close 
by  the  side  of  “  the  highest  pinnacle  of  Casius.”*  It  thus 

*  Hor-ha-hor  has  been  translated  a  mountain  of  a  mountain,  a  double  mountain. 
If  such  a  translation  be  preferred,  Casius  and  Anti-Casius  stand  re«dy  to  respond  to 
it  as  definite  points.  But  the  entrance  into  Hamath  has  not  to  be  pointed  out  by  a 
man  standing-  on  two  mountains(!),  but  on  one,  especially  if  these  mountains,  like 


THE  PROMISED  LAND. 


101 


rises  like  a  mountain  on  (or  of)  a  mountain,  in  a  manner  of 
which  its  scriptural  name  may  be  said  to  be  literally  signif¬ 
icant  or  expressive. 

Mount  Casius,  rising  abruptly  from  the  sea,  high  above 
all  the  hills  in  its  vicinity,  and  peculiarly  of  a  pointed  form, 
and  situated  between  the  once  famous  cities  of  Seleucia  and 
Laodicea,  is  repeatedly  mentioned  by  ancient  writers ;  and 
the  preposterous  terms  in  which  they  describe  it  sufficient¬ 
ly  show  how  greatly  it  was  renowned  for  its  height,  so  as 
appropriately  to  bear  the  designation  of  a  “  very  high  mount¬ 
ain.”  Its  locality  is  undoubted,  as  marked  by  Strabo*  and 
Pliny,  near  to  Seleucia,  and  by  Ammianus  Marcelliniis,  as 
the  Orontes  flows  by  its  base.f  Its  height  is  described  by 
Pliny  and  others,  in  an  oft-repeated  statement,  which  merits 
ridicule  alone,  as  such,  that  at  the  fourth  watch,  the  sun 
(three  hours  before  its  rise)  is  to  be  seen  from  its  summit ; 
so  that  the  spectator,  by  turning  round,  or  looking  from  the 
east  to  the  west,  can  equally  see  both  day  and  night  at 
once  and  somewhat  less  extravagantly,  he  marks  its  alti¬ 
tude  as  four  miles  by  the  steepest  ascent.  Its  bare  and  lofty 
pinnacle,  as  reflecting  the  first  rays  of  the  sun,  might  in¬ 
deed  be  the  first  herald  of  the  morning,  after — if  not,  as 
alleged,  before — the  crowing  of  the  cock.§  Noted  as  Mount 
Casius  of  Syria  thus  was  for  the  early  rising  of  the  sun  as 
‘seen  from  its  summit,  the  fact  may  plainly  be  inferred,  that 
of  all  the  hilly  region  around,  the  “  pinnacle  of  Casius,” 
from  its  superior  elevation,  was  daily  first  gilded  by  the  so¬ 
lar  rays.  For  the  same  reason,  it  would  prove  the  first  and 
most  conspicuous  landmark  from  the  sea,  situated  as  it  is  on 
the  lip  of  the  ocean.  Without  attempting  to  define  its  sit¬ 
uation,  Pococke,  who  passed  it,  affirms  that  it  is  certainly 
(giving  unconsciously  the  very  translation  of  Hor-ha-hor  in 
the  Vulgate)  a  very  high  mountain,  though,  as  he  very  safe¬ 
ly  states,  “  Pliny’s  testimony  seems  to  exceed  the  truth. ”1| 

Lebanon  and  Anti-Lebanon,  stretch  from  south  to  north  for  more  than  a  hundred 
miles.  *  Strabo,  p.  1068. 

t  Orontes  imos  pedes  Casii  Montis  illius  celsi  prsetermeans. — Amm.  Marcel.,  lib. 
xiv.,  c.  8  (al.  26),  p.  33,  edit.  Lugd.  Bat.,  1693. 

f  Super  Seleuciam  Mons  Casius,  cujus  excelsa  altitude  quarta  vigilia  orientein  pei 
tenebras  solem  adspicit,  brevi  circumactu  corporis  diem  noctemque  pariter  ostendens. 
— Piin.,  lib.  V.,  c.  22.  In  Monti  Casio,  quara  videndi  solis  ortus  gratia  noctu  ad- 
scendisset,  &c. — Had.  Spartian.,  c.  xiv. 

i)  Praestituto  feriarum  die  Casiurn  nnontem  adscendit  nemorosum,  et  terreti  ambitu 
in  sublime  porrec/um,  unde  secundis  galliciniis  videtur  primi  solis  exortus. — Arnmian., 
lib.  xxii.,  c.  14,  (33),  p.  236.  Hi  omnes  de  Syriae  Monti  Casio  illam  de  premature  solis 
ortu  narrationem  habent.— Vide  Cellarii  Geograph,  Ant.,  tom.  ii.,  p.  251. 

II  Pococke’s  Description  of  the  East,  p.  187, 

I  2 


102 


THE  BOUNDARIES  OF 


The  reason  which  he  assigns  why  a  southern  summit  of  the 
same  mountain  could  alone,  in  his  estimation,  be  Anti-Ca- 
sius,  viz.,  that  “  all  the  other  hills  being  very  low  with  regard 
to  (in  comparison  with)  Mount  Casius,"^^*  may  serve  at  once 
to  show  why  it  has  been  so  peculiarly  celebrated  for  its 
height,  and  how  it  is  thereby  aptly  fitted,  as  if  raised  on  pur¬ 
pose  by  the  God  of  Nature,  who  is  also  the  God  of  Israel, 
for  forming  the  termination  of  the  western  border  of  Isra- 
el’s  inheritance  along  the  Mediterranean  Sea,  and  the  point 
where  the  northern  begins. 

The  peculiar  position  of  Mount  Casius,  not  only  on  the 
very  verge  of  the  sea,  but  also  at  the  northern  termination 
of  a  long  maritime  plain,  and  the  termination,  too,  of  the  riv¬ 
er  and  valley  of  the  Orontes  (or,  according  to  Abulfeda,  of 
the  River  of  Elamath),  tends,  together  with  its  pointed  form, 
to  render  it  more  conspicuous  and  remarkable  than  loftier 
mountains  in  other  regions,  whose  pre-eminence  is  not  so 
marked.  Thus  while,  in  that  pure  atmosphere,  it  is  seen 
for  so  long  a  distance  in  the  northern  coast  of  Syria,  and 
also  from  the  sea,  it  is  no  less  conspicuous  at  the  distance 
of  more  than  sixty  miles  in  an  opposite  direction  ;  for  the 
same  travellers  by  whom  we  have  been  led  to  the  first  view 
of  it,  state  that  Mount  Casius  was  in  sight  from  Serniain, 
which  lies  on  the  farther  side  of  the  land  of  Hamath.  Mount 
Casius  is,  we  may  confidently  affirm,  the  only  mountain  on  * 
any  part  of  the  coast  which  lies  over  against  the  land  of 
Hamath,  that  is  anywhere  visible  from  it,  or  from  any  region 
beyond  it. 

But  if  Mount  Casius  be  the  very  high  mountain  from 
which  the  entrance  into  Hamath  has  to  be  pointed  out, 
where  is  such  an  entrance  to  be  seen  from  it  1  That  en¬ 
trance  is  the  very  object  in  immediate  view  lying  at  its 
base,  and  stretching  inland  to  Antioch,  as  from  the  north 
end  of  the  land  one  goeth  unto  Hamath,  &c.  The  Orontes 
empties  itself  into  the  sea  at  the  foot  of  Casius,  a  narrow 
plain  intervening  at  its  entrance.  And  that  mountain  is  as 
fitting  a  station  from  whence  the  entrance  into  Hamath  may 
be  pointed  out,  as  it  is  itself  a  peculiar  landmark  yVom  the 
sea, 

“  From  the  sea  ye  shall  point  out  to  you  a  very  high 
mountain,  and  from  that  mounimn  ye  shall  point  out  the 
entrance  into  Hamath.”  And  not  till  Mount  Casius  is  as* 

*  Pococke’s  Description  of  the  East,  p.  187. 


THE  PROMISED  LAND. 


103 

cended  is  any  entrance  into  Hamath  seen  ;  but  its  northern 
side  is  that  also  of  a  valley,  which  needs  but  to  be  pointed 
out  as  the  sought- for  border  of  Israel.  Descriptions  by  un¬ 
conscious  travellers  may  show  that  the  relative  connexion 
between  the  high  mountain  and  the  entering  in  of  Hamath 
is  as  close  in  fact  as  in  the  text. 

“  The  southern  part  of  the  city  (the  ruined  Seleucia) 
commands  a  view  of  the  sea,  Mount  Casius,  the  port,  the 
plain  to  the  south,  and  the  Orontes  running  through  it.” 
“From  the  mountains  the  country  appears  like  a  plain  all 
the  way  to  Antioch;  but  about  a  league  to  the  east/rom  the 
sea  there  are  low  hills  almost  as  far  as  that  city,  which  have 
fruitful  valleys  between  them.”* 

“  The  valley  in  which  the  Orontes  winds  down  and 
discharges  itself  into  the  sea  is  well  seen  from  hence 
(Seleucia).  Its  southern  boundary  is  the  range  of  Jebel 
Okrab  (Mount  Casius),  the  steep  sides  of  which  seem  to  rise 
abruptly  from  the  sea,  and  continue  their  ascent  till  they 
terminate  in  its  gray  and  bare  peak,  at  the  height  of  per¬ 
haps  5000  feet  from  the  base.  Its  northern  boundary  is  the 
range  of  mountain  called  Jebel  Mousa,  the  western  ex¬ 
tremity  of  which  slopes  down  into  a  cape  at  the  distance 
of  less  than  a  mile  north  of  the  moles  and  entrance  of  the 
ruined  port  of  Antioch,  and  its  even  summit  runs  along  to 
the  eastward,  until  it  loses  itself  among  more  uneven  hills. 
The  inner  or  eastern  parts  of  these  ranges  gradually  ap¬ 
proach  each  other  till  they  seem  to  meet,  thus  leaving  a 
triangular  valley  or  plain  between  them,  its  base-line  being 
the  edge  of  the  seacoast,  and  its  whole  length  from  eight  to 
ten  miles.  It  is  nearly  in  the  centre  of  this  that  the  Oron¬ 
tes  winds  down  its  course  ;  and  the  whole  of  the  space  on 
its  northern  bank  is  occupied  by  corn-fields,  mulberry 
grounds,  gardens  of  fig-trees,  and  detached  cottages,  all  ex¬ 
cellently  built.”! 

“  I  set  out”  (from  Antioch),  says  Mr.  G.  Robinson,  “  for 
Suedieh,  situated  in  a  plain  five  hours  and  a  half  southwest 
of  Antioch,  and  one  from  the  sea.  The  road  to  it  is  over  a 
country  slightly  undulated,  and  crossed  occasionally  by 
streams,  falling  from  the  mountains  to  the  north,  and  run¬ 
ning  towards  the  Orontes.”  “  From  the  ruins  of  Seleucia 
1  crossed  over  the  plain  southward,  about  four  miles,  to  the 

*  Pococke’s  Description  of  the  East,  p.  186. 

t  Buckingham’s  Travels  among  the  Arab  Tribes,  p.  550,  551. 


104 


THE  BOUNBAKIES  OF 


mouth  of  the  Orontes.  The  entrance  is  marked  by  the 
whitened  tomb  of  a  Turkish  santon.  Djebel  Okrab  (Mount 
Casius),  on  the  south  side  of  the  river,  appears  from  this 
spot  to  great  advantage,  rising  abruptly  from  the  sea  to  the 
height  of  between  five  and  six  thousand  feet,  and  terminating 
in  a  sharp  peak.  Its  lower  part  is  cultivated,  but  towards 
the  top  it  is  gray  and  bare  of  trees,  from  whence  it  derives 
its  name  Okrab,  meaning  in  Arabic  ‘  bald.’  From  the  mouth 
of  the  river  I  ascended  the  right  bank  till  I  came  to  a  large 
basin,  which  I  was  told  was  the  ancient  port  of  Antioch.* 
Mr.  Robinson  returned  to  Antioch  on  the  southern  side  of 
the  river,  partly  along  the  north  declivity  of  Mount  Casius  , 
“  In  one  hour  I  reached  the  banks  of  the  Orontes,  near  the 
place  where,  issuing  from  the  mountains,  it  enters  the  plains 
previous  to  emptying  itself  finally  into  the  sea,  two  miles 
from  hence.  At  this  stage  of  its  course,  though  not  very 
wide,  it  is  a  fine,  deep,  and  steady-flowing  river,  and  navi¬ 
gable  for  vessels  of  about  a  hundred  tons  burden.  On 
crossing  the  river,  and  reaching  the  opposite  side,  we  com¬ 
menced  ascending  the  left  bank  of  the  stream,  and  in  a 
quarter  of  an  hour  entered  a  mountain  pass  of  surprising 
beauty.  For  more  than  two  hours  from  hence  the  Orontes 
is  seen  flowing  between  a  double  line  of  high  hills,  winding 
and  turning  incessantly — as  the  ground  on  which  it  passes 
presents  obstacles  to  its  free  course — though  enabling  it 
thereby  to  distribute  alternately  to  either  side  the  fertilizing 
powers  of  its  waters.  In  this  interval  the  road  is  naturally 
subject  to  the  caprices  of  the  river.  At  two  hours  from  the 
western  entrance  of  the  pass,  the  mountains  on  the  right 
bank  of  the  river  sudderdy  dwindle  into  comparative  insig¬ 
nificance,  and  shortly  after  the  view  opens  again  to  the 
plain  of  Souedie.  Following  the  path  along  the  hills  which 
overlook  the  Orontes,  in  three  hours  we  reached  Antioch, 
making  a  total  of  seven  from  Suedieh.  The  road  we  took 
on  our  return  this  day  is  nearly  two  miles  more  than  the 
straight  one  across  the  plain,  and  is,  therefore,  little  fre¬ 
quented.”* 

Captains  Irby  and  Mangles,  after  having  rested  during 
night  at  the  village  of  Lourdie,  situated  immediately  by  the 
side  of  the  highest  pinnacle  of  Mount  Casius,  without  as- 
cending  it,  descended  the  north  side  of  the  mountains, 
through  woody  and  wild  scenery  ;  and  after  having  lost 

*  Travels  in  Palestine  and  Syria,  vcJ.  ii.,  p.  294,  298. 


THE  PROMISED  LAND. 


105 


their  way  several  times,  reached  “  the  banks  of  the  Orontes 
at  the  place  where  commences  the  picturesque  part  of  the 
river,  and  immediately  below  the  spot  where  the  chart  was 
marked,  the  site  of  the  city  and  groves  of  Daphne,  We 
began  now  to  follow  the  banks  of  the  river,  and  were 
astonished  at  the  beauty  of  the  scenery,  far  surpassing  any¬ 
thing  we  expected  to  see  in  Syria,  and,  indeed,  anything 
we  had  witnessed  in  Switzerland,  though  we  walked  nine 
hundred  miles  in  that  country,  and  saw  most  of  its  beauty. 
The  river,  from  the  time  we  began  to  trace  its  banks,  ran 
continually  between  the  high  hills,  winding  and  turning  in¬ 
cessantly  ;  at  times  the  road  led  over  precipices  in  the 
rocks,  looking  down  perpendicularly  on  the  river.  The 
luxuriant  variety  of  foliage  was  prodigious  ;  and  the  rich 
green  myrtle,  which  was  very  plentiful,  contrasted  with 
the  colour  of  the  road,  the  soil  of  which  was  a  dark-red 
granite,  made  us  imagine  we  were  riding  through  pleasure- 
grounds.  The  laurel,  laurustinus,  bay-tree,  fig-tree,  wild 
vine,  plane-tree,  English  sycamore,  arbutus,  both  common 
and  andrachne,  dwarf  oak,  &c,,  were  scattered  in  all  di¬ 
rections.  At  times  the  road  was  overhung  with  rocks 
covered  with  ivy;  the  mouths  of  caverns  also  presented 
themselves,  and  gave  a  wildness  to  the  scene  ;  and  the 
perpendicular  cliffs  jutted  into  the  river  upward  of  three 
hundred  feet  high,  forming  corners  round  which  the  waters 
ran  in  a  most  romantic  manner ;  and  on  one  occasion  the 
road  wound  round  a  deep  bay  thus,  so  that,  on  perceiving 
ourselves  immediately  opposite  the  spot  we  had  so  recently 
passed,  it  appeared  that  we  had  crossed  the  river.  We 
descended  at  times  into  plains  cultivated  with  mulberry 
plantations  and  vines,  and  prettily  studded  with  picturesque 
cottages.  The  occasional  shallows  of  the  river,  keeping  up 
a  perpetual  roaring,  completed  the  beauty  of  the  delightful 
scene,  which  lasted  about  two  hours,  when  we  entered  into 
the  plain  of  the  Suadrach,  where  the  river  becomes  of 
greater  breadth,  and  runs  to  the  sea  in  as  straight  a  line  as 
a  canal.”* 

The  patience  of  the  reader  may  have  been  tried  in  pass¬ 
ing  through  the  dry  details  of  names  and  mere  localities,  as 
if  the  whole  scene,  destitute  of  all  attraction,  possessed  no 
other  interest,  and  were  bleak  as  the  bare  pinnacle  of  Casi- 
us.  But  his  perseverance  may  be  rewarded  by  the  enchant- 

*  Irby  and  Mangles’  Travels,  p.  225,  226. 


106 


THE  BOUNDARIES  OF 


ing  scene  which  thus  bursts  upon  his  view,  on  being  intro¬ 
duced  to  the  entrance  into  Hamath.  It  is  not,  however, 
with  its  beauty  that  we  have  here  to  do,  when  a  rigid  scru¬ 
tiny  and  strict  search  as  to  the  reality  of  its  claim,  as  addu¬ 
ced  for  the  first  time,  have  alone  to  be  regarded.  But  these 
simply  and  hitherto  unapplied  facts  may  conspire,  with  still 
farther  proof,  to  make  the  entrance  into  Hamath  patent  to 
the  world. 

Nothing  but  a  hill- country,  without  any  such  entrance 
into  Hamath,  is  to  be  seen  along  the  whole  of  the  eastern 
side  of  the  great  plain,  till  that  plain,  which  lies  over  against 
the  land  of  Hamath,  or  great  valley  of  the  Orontes,  is  passed, 
and  Mount  Casius  is  ascended.  But  immediately  from  it, 
as  from  the  lower  hills  around,  the  country  appears  like  a 
plain  all  the  way  to  Antioch.  The  Orontes  at  last,  after  a 
course  of  nearly  two  hundred  miles  from  south  to  north,  al- 
most  parallel  to  the  coast,  is  turned  by  another  mountain 
chain,  winds  its  way  between  a  double  line  of  high  hills,  and 
then,  straight  as  a  canal,  enters  by  a  direct  line  into  the 
Mediterranean  Sea,  a  fine,  deep,  and  steady-flowing  stream, 
without  any  obstruction  to  turn  it  aside  when  it  had  reach¬ 
ed  the  junction  of  the  west  and  north  borders  of  Israel. 

While  it  is  thus  manifest  that  there  is  in  this  precise 
point  an  entrance  into  Hamath,  the  nature  of  it,  as  well  as 
the  situation  it  occupies,  may  add  another  feature  by  which 
it  may  be  recognised. 

Cellarius,  who  earnestly  strives  to  assimilate  the  borders 
of  the  promised  land  with  those  of  ancient  Israel,  states, 
without  adducing  any  illustration  or  specifying  any  locality, 
that  the  manner  in  which  the  border  of  Palestine,  as  he  de¬ 
nominates  it,  is  spoken  of  as  the  entrance  into  Hamath,  de¬ 
notes  “  a  province  to  be  entered  through  straits  or  narrow 
passes” — per  fauces  et  angustias  adeundam.*  Plain  as  is 
the  meaning  of  these  words,  it  may  be  more  obvious  to  some 
readers  by  a  mere  reference  to  the  common  Latin  dictiona¬ 
ry —  ^’■fauces,  straits  or  narrow  passages,  the  mouth  of  a 
river,”  Such,  precisely,  is  the  actual  scene.  A  mountain 
pass,  where  for  several  miles  the  opposite  hills  almost  meet, 
forms,  near  to  the  mouth  of  a  river,  the  entrance  into  Ha¬ 
math  ;  while,  notwithstanding,  from  the  high  mountain  from 
which  it  is  pointed  out,  and  is  seen  to  form  a  well-defined 
valley,  it  appears,  however  narrowed  in  some  places  by  low 

*  Cellar.,  tom.  ii.,  p.  2S1. 


THE  PROMISED  LAND.  107 

hills,  like  a  plain  all  the  way  to  Antioch,  or  for  the  distance 
of  sixteen  miles,  till  extensive  plains  spread  out  in  the  land 
of  Hamath. 

Traversing  covenanted,  and,  therefore,  Israelitish  ground, 
we  first  passed  along  the  shore  till  the  land  bordered  with 
the  mouth  of  the  Orontes  ;  and  again,  in  the  interior,  with 
a  hill-country  between,  to  Antioch.  And  from  more  abun¬ 
dant  proof  that  may  still  farther  be  supplied,  the  reader  may 
judge  whether,  in  the  space  that  intervenes  between  these 
two  places,  the  scriptural  entrance  into  Hamath  may  not  be 
seen,  as  plainly  as  was  the  road — which  lay  there  the  whole 
way — between  Antioch  and  its  port. 

But  while  the  Phoenician  coast  has  to  be  followed  till  the 
designated  mountain  be  reached,  and  very  much  land  has 
to  be  passed  beyond  the  ancient  frontier  of  Israel,  so  that 
all  the  appointed  territories  may  be  included  within  the  bor¬ 
ders,  yet  it  is  not  from  the  shore,  hut  from  the  sea,  that  the 
very  high  mountain  was  to  be  pointed  out,  from  which  the 
entrance  into  Hamath  is  seen.  It  is,  therefore,  necessary 
to  add  the  testimony  of  the  navigator  to  that  of  the  traveller. 

Sailing  northward  from  Arvad,  the  ancient  capital  of  the 
Arvadites,  as  Captains  Irby  and  Mangles  advanced  in  the 
same  direction  along  the  shore,  another  witness,  on  passing 
Latakia  (or  Laodicea),  thus  points  to  Mount  Casius.  “  The 
scenery  soon  after  became  very  fine.  Mount  Casius  rose 
out  of  the  sea  with  stupendous  grandeur,  raising  its  craggy 
sides  and  lofty  peak  of  naked  rock  into  the  sky  ;  the  woody 
precipices  along  the  coast  seemed  to  drop  into  the  sea. 
Their  forms  were  cast  in  the  most  magnificent  mould,  much  . 
finer  than  the  heights  of  Lebanon.  Mount  Casius  is  from 
every  point  a  sublime  feature,  but  the  most  beautiful  point 
is  the  gorge  in  the  mountains  through  which  the  Orontes 
finds  its  way  to  the  plain  and  sea  ;  there  is  a  loneliness  in 
the  folding  forms  of  the  mountains,  a  solitude,  a  wildness, 
which  makes  one  long  to  trace  the  romantic  course  of  this 
river”^ — to  see,  it  might  have  been  said,  the  entrance  into 
Hamath. 

“  'I'he  entrance  by  the  mouth  of  the  Orontes,”  as  it  is  lit¬ 
erally  called,  “possesses  a  grandeur  rarely  equalled  by  this 
beautiful  country.  Mount  Casius  rises  abruptly  from  the 
sea  ;  its  summit  is  a  bold  rocky  pinnacle.”! 

*  Fisher’s  Views  of  Syria.  Descriptions  by  J.  Came,  Esq.,  of  Cambridg-e,  vol. 
it.,  p.  28,  29.  t  Ibid.,  rol.  ii.,  p.  77. 


108 


THE  BOUNDARIES  OF 


But  Other  witnesses  are  not  wanting  to  raise  their  voice 
at  last  from  that  once  frequented  but  long  deserted  shore. 
As  if  the  very  first  fruits  of  the  Euphrates  expedition  had 
been  destined  to  be  an  offering  to  the  cause  of  scriptural  il¬ 
lustration,  by  the  concurring  solution  of  another  problem 
than  that  of  the  practicability  of  the  navigation  of  the  Eu¬ 
phrates,  Colonel  Chesney,  in  the  Journal  of  the  Royal  Ge¬ 
ographical  Society,  commences  an  admirable  article  on  the 
Bay  of  Antioch  by  a  description  of  the  scene,  as  the  expe¬ 
dition  bore  down  upon  the  coast  of  Syria,  in  order  that  they 
might  disembark  at  the  very  point  which  formed  of  old  the 
port  of  Antioch.  In  preference  to  all  other  places,  he  sought 
an  entrance  there,  whereby  to  go  to  Beer  on  the  Euphrates. 

“  The  Bay  of  Antioch  is  spacious,  free  from  rocks,  and 
well  sheltered  on  every  side,  with  the  exception  of  the 
southeast,  where,  in  the  distant  horizon,  is  seen  the  lofty 
island  of  Cyprus  ;  the  anchorage,  however,  is  good,  and  the 
water  deep,  almost  to  the  very  beach.  This  was  the  spot 
selected,  in  order  to  avoid  the  Bei'lkn  Mountains,  for  the 
disembarcation  of  the  party  destined  to  proceed  on  the  ex¬ 
pedition  to  the  Euphrates.  On  the  3d  April,  1835,  H.  M.  S. 
Columbine,  followed  by  the  George  Canning,  under  all  sail, 
led  the  way  from  the  offing  towards  the  anchorage.  To 
the  south,  as  we  proceeded,  was  the  lofty  Jehel  El  Akrah 
[Mount  Casius],  rising  5318  feet  above  the  sea,  with  its 
abutments  extending  to  Antioch.  To  the  north,  the  Beilan 
range,  5337  feet,  well  stocked  with  forest  trees,  chiefly  oak, 
walnut,  and  fir ;  and  in  front,  the  broad  expanse  of  the  bay, 
^  backed  by  the  hills  of  Antioch,  Mount  S.  Simeon,  or  Ben- 
kiliseh,  covered  with  myrtle,  bay,  and  arbutus,  all  together 
forming  a  striking  and  magnificent  panorama,”*  &;c. 

“  The  southern  horn  of  the  Bay  of  Antioch  trends  inward, 
east  by  north,  about  seven  miles  to  the  beach.  Near  its 
outer  extremity  is  the  little  bay  or  fissure  called  Kasab,  and 
three  miles  nearer  to  the  mainland  that  of  Kara  Mayor, 
which  is  rather  larger,  and  has  a  good  anchorage  off  it  close 
to  the  shore  ;  the  rest  of  the  distance  along  the  foot  of  Mount 
Casius  being  precipitous,  and  for  the  most  part  inaccessible, 
as  far  as  the  beach,  beyond  which  the  range  of  Jebel  El 
Akrab  runs  towards  Antioch  in  the  previous  direction,  east 
by  north,  with  the  rich,  picturesque  valley  of  the  Orohtes  at 
the  foot,  and  the  celebrated  fountain  of  Daphne  on  its  slope. 

■*  Geographical  Journal,  vol.  viii.,  p.  228. 


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THE  PROMISED  LAND. 


109 


Eight  miles  and  a  half  north  by  west,  half  west,  is  the  other 
horn  of  the  bay,  which  is  formed  by  Jebel  Mnsa ;  on  the 
.  base  of  which,  opening  northwest,  are  the  ruins  of  the  well- 
known  city  built  by  Seleucus  Nicator  to  celebrate  his  vic¬ 
tory  over  Antigonus  ;  but  it  has  a  much  deeper  interest  to 
the  Christian  from  being  the  spot  where  Paul  and  Barnabas 
embarked  for  Cyprus.”* 

Such  a  description,  by  such  an  observer,  may  add  a  still 
deeper  interest  to  the  scene,  as  showing  how  the  Bay  of 
Antioch  has  been  formed  by  Nature’s  God,  and  presents  the 
opening  on  the  coast  where  He  has  also  formed  the  entrance 
into  Hamath,  so  often  spoken  of  in  his  Word. 

The  expedition  first  pitched  their  tents  near  to  the  ruins 
of  Seleucia.  “  The  scene,  with  the  British  flag  floating 
over  their  heads,  and  the  noble  mountains  which  surrounded 
them,  of  which  Mount  Casius  was  the  monarchy  was  most 
animated  and  picturesque.”! 

That  spot,  with  Mount  Casius  in  the  distance,  is  delinea¬ 
ted  in  the  splendid  work  entitled  “  Fisher’s  Views,  or  Syria, 
the  Holy  Land,  &c.,  illustrated,”  to  the  publishers  of  which 
the  author  is  indebted  for  an  illustration  of  the  scene,  as 
well  as  the  view  of  a  portion  of  the  valley,  both  taken  from 
the  original  plates.  The  reader  is  referred  to  other  views 
of  Mount  Casius  in  the  same  work,  as  it  is  seen  from  the 
sea  (vol.  i.,  p.  77)  ;  from  Mr.  Barker’s  village  at  Suadeah ; 
and  from  the  village  of  Beit-y-ass  (vol.  iii.,  p.  74),  where  the 
lofty  peak  of  Casius  is  seen  towering  higher  than  the  other 
less  defined  mountains. 

In  the  description  of  the  view  of  the  remains  of  the  port 
of  Seleucia,  it  is  said,  “  The  scene  at  present  is  wild  and 
impressive.  A  desolate  and  rocky  beach — Mount  Casius 
on  the  left — a  few  country  barks  crossing  the  Bay  of  Sua¬ 
deah,  to  enter  the  mouth  of  the  Orontes.  The  two  piers  of 
the  ancient  port  are  seen  projecting  into  the  sea  :  the  ruined 
tower  on  the  rock  was  built  for  its  protection  ;  and  near 
this  one  of  the  piers  ran  into  the  sea,  constructed  of  very 
large  stones,  some  of  them  twenty  feet  by  six  in  width  and 
five  in  depth :  they  have  been  fastened  together  by  iron 
cramps,  the  remains  of  which  are  still  to  be  seen.  Mount 
Casius,  that  towers  on  the  left  far  above  the  other  heights, 
is  the  finest  mountain,  and  of  the  most  striking  appearance 
of  any  in  Syria ;  its  summit  is  a  pyramid  of  rock ;  its  sides 

*  Geographical  Journal,  rol.  viii.,  p.  228,  229.  t  Fisher’s  Views,  vol.  p.  77. 


110 


THE  BOUNDARIES  OF 


are  broken  into  deep  and  precipitous  glens.  Its  larger  por¬ 
tion  is  bare  and  naked,  yet  it  is  more  sublime  in  its  bareness 
than  if  sheltered  entirely,  like  many  of  its  neighbours,  by 
magnificent  forests.  The  setting  sun,  resting  long  on  its 
aerial  deserts  of  rocks,  on  its  wild  and  waste  crest,  is  glo¬ 
rious  to  behold.”*  (See  Plate  1.) 

But  it  is  noifrom  the  sea,  but  from  the  mountain,  that  the 
entrance  is  to  be  seen.  The  hills  of  Antioch,  Mount  S. 
Simeon,  or  Ben-kiliseh,  shut  in  the  view ;  and  not  one  man 
on  board  the  vessels  having  entered  the  bay  before,  great  un¬ 
easiness  was  felt  lest  they  might  have  mistaken  the  intended 
bay,  till,  near  the  shore,  the  Orontes  was  seen,  from  the  top¬ 
mast  head,  winding  towards  its  estuary.  The  summit  of 
Ben-kiliseh,  a  low  mountain,  is  about  five  miles  from  the 
sea,  and  commands  a  beautiful  view  westward,  over  a  very 
rich  plain  extending  to  the  sea,  closed  in  by  Mount  Casius  to 
the  southward,  and  the  Jebel  Musa  range  to  the  northward  ; 
while  to  the  east  is  the  valley  of  the  Orontes,  terminated  by 
the  castellated  hills  of  Antioch,  the  general  view  being 
closed  to  the  northeast  by  the  Beilan  Mountains.! 

A  section  of  the  valley  near  this  point  is  presented  in  the 
view  of  the  junction  of  a  tributary  stream  which  descends 
from  Mount  Amanus,  and  falls  into  the  river ;  in  the  de¬ 
scription  of  which  it  is  said,  “  The  numerous  flocks  and 
their  shepherds  give  a  pastoral  appearance  to  this  scene  ; 
the  old  stone  bridge  [which  shows  that  of  old  there  was  a 
road  or  entrance  there],  with  its  single  arch,  crosses  the 
tributary  stream  that  loudly  pours  its  tide  into  the  calm,  ma¬ 
jestic  bosom  of  the  Orontes.  Cultivation  is  visible  even  to 
the  water’s  edge :  the  declivities  aflbrd  the  richest  pasture 
to  the  flocks,  whose  keepers,  seated  on  the  banks  or  beneath 
the  trees,  look  every  day  on  a  scene  that  might  vie  with  the 
fields  of  Arcadia.  The  whole  valley  of  the  Orontes,  up  to 
Antioch,  is  magnificent,  between  the  ranges  of  Mount  Ca¬ 
sius  and  Amanus,  and  it  is  cultivated  in  many  parts,  and 
might  be  made,  with  industry,  as  productive  as  in  ancient 
times  :  viewed  a  few  miles  farther  from  the  heights  of  Beit- 
el-ma  (a  lower  prolongation  of  Casius),  the  river  presents  a 
splendid  broad  expanse,  winding  between  fhe  bold  range  of 
Amanus  and  the  mountain  of  the  column.”!  (See  Plate  2.) 

The  view  presents  only  a  part  of  the  valley ;  and  even 


*  Fisher’s  Views,  vol.  ii.,  p.  17. 
t  Fisher’s  Views,  vol.  i.,  p.  18. 


+  Geog.  Joum.,  vol.  viii.,  p.  228,  229 


JU\o;riux  OF-  A  'I’lainA’i-AH V 


THE  PROMISED  LAND. 


Ill 


from  the  summit  of  Ben-kiliseh  the  view  of  the  valley  of 
the  Ororites  is  terminated  to  the  east  by  the  castellated  hills 
of  Antioch,  and  the  termination  of  the  entrance  is  not  from 
thence  to  be  seen ;  but  from  the  very  high  mountain  which 
towers  above  the  other  hills,  the  entrance  is  seen  in  all  its 
length,  and  beyond  it  part  of  the  land  of  Hamath,  to  which 
it  leads.  In  Mr.  Ainsworth’s  Researches  in  Assyria,  a  view 
is  given  of  Jehel  Akra,  or  Mount  Casius,  seen  from  Gul 


Bashi,  the  “  head  of  the  lakef  with  the  hills  of  Antioch  in 
front,  which  is  here  inserted,  with  the  kind  permission  of 
the  author  and  publisher.  As  Casius  forms  a  most  promi¬ 
nent  landmark  as  pointed  out  from  the  sea,  so,  on  the  other 
extremity  of  the  entrance  into  Hamath,  it  forms  as  conspic¬ 
uous  an  object,  and  is  seen  to  rise  as  a  mountain  whose  base 
is  the  summit  of  another — Hor-ha-hor,  or  literally  a  mount¬ 
ain  on  a  mountain.  The  height  of  the  “summit  of  pass,” 
or  “  the  minimum  of  crest,  and  summit  level  of  a  road,”  is 
2460  feet;  the  village  of  Beshkir  is  2513;*  but  another 
mountain  rises  above  the  summit  level  of  the  lower  to  more 
than  twice  that  height* 

“  Burckhardt,  Volney,  Adrien  Balbi,  and  others,  have 
looked  upon  Casius  and  the  Nosairi  Hills  as  effecting  a  con- 

*  Ainsworth’s  Assyria,  p.  305. 


112 


THE  BOUNDARIES  OF 


nexion  between  the  Lebanon  and  Amanus,  and  hence  geo¬ 
graphically  connecting  the  systems  of  Taurus  and  Libanus  ; 
and  this  view  of  the  subject,”  according  to  the  able  testi¬ 
mony  of  Mr.  Ainsworth,  “is  farther  supported  by  the  geog¬ 
nostic  structure  of  the  chains.”*  The  entrance  into  the 
land  of  Hamath  thus  lies  between  them  and  the  connecting 

O 

point,  or  base  of  Casius  j  and  the  opposite  hill  bears  the 
name  of  Djebel  Mousa,  as  if  the  name  of  the  Hebrew  legis¬ 
lator  were  engraven  on  the  northern  frontier  of  Israel. 

An  extensive  mountain  range  from  north  to  south,  and 
another  from  east  to  west,  form,  in  their  respective  termi¬ 
nations,  the  opposite  sides  of  the  valley,  which  terminates 
also  the  course  of  the  Orontes,  or  the  River  of  Hamath. 
That  river  flowed  alike  by  Hamath  and  Antioch,  through 
the  centre  of  the  land  ;  and  it  is  not  an  unnatural  supposi¬ 
tion,  though  other  facts  were  not  known  to  support  it,  that 
the  entrance  into  Hamath  yVom  the  sea  was,  in  all  likelihood, 
the  same  as  that  by  which  the  River  of  Hamath  entered  the 
sea.  Immediately  at  that  point  where  its  waters  mingle 
with  those  of  the  ocean,  there  rises  abruptly  a  very  high 
mountain,  from  whence  an  open  and  direct  entrance  into 
Hamath  lies  in  immediate  prospect,  right  inland,  which 
doubtless  formed  the  great  thoroughfare  from  the  sea  in 
Northern  Syria,  and  opened  up  a  plain  way  from  thence  to 
the  cities  in  the  land  of  Hamath,  and  led  directly  to  others 
in  the  vicinity  or  on  the  banks  of  the  Euphrates. 

Riblah,  in  the  land  of  Hamath,  was  the  Syrian  seat  of  the 
King  of  Babylon  in  the  days  of  the  prophets  of  Israel.  An¬ 
tioch,  in  its  place  or  immediate  neighbourhood,  became  the 
seat  of  the  Assyrian  monarchs,  and  was  repeatedly  the  re¬ 
sort  of  Roman  emperors.  Its  port,  of  which  the  remains  are 
yet  to  be  seen,  was  near  to  the  mouth  of  the  Orontes  ;  and 
Seleucia,  with  its  port  “  capable  of  containing  a  thousand 
vessels,”  lay  in  the  vicinity.  Along  the  coast  the  lofty  pin¬ 
nacle  of  Casius  was  the  surest  beacon /row  the  sea;  and  it 
directed  the  mariner  to  the  entrance  of  Hamath,  the  mari¬ 
time  terminus  of  which  formed  the  stations  of  two  extensive 
ports,  while  at  its  opposite  extremity  lay  Hamath  the  Great, 
or  the  capital  of  Assyria.  The  bounding  mountains  on  both 
sides  precluded  any  other  entrance  while  a  liver,  naviga¬ 
ble  for  vessels  of  one  hundred  tons,  with  a  road  on  its  south 
side,  and  a  narrow  path  on  the  northern  bank,  where  the 
opposing  mountains  almost  meet,  passed  through  a  most  en- 

*  Aiiurworth’s  Assvrin,  p.  30S,  30(5. 


THE  PROMISED  LAND. 


113 


chanting  scene,  which  there  is  thus  strong  reason  for  be¬ 
lieving  was  consecrated  by  Divine  promise  as  ultimately  a 
portion  of  the  norlhern  border  of  Israel,  before  the  Grove 
of  Daphne,  planted  beside  it,  was  desecrated  by  heathen 
abominations.  Having  the  celebrated  and  opulent  city  of 
Seleucia,  together  with  its  port  and  that  of  Antioch,  in  one 
end,  and  the  city  of  Antioch,  which  numbered  eight  hun¬ 
dred  thousand  inhabitants,  on  the  other,  and  opening  a  way 
from  the  north  end  of  Syria,  not  only  to  the  land  of  Hamath, 
but  also  to  the  countries  which  environed  the  Euphrates,  the 
valley  in  which  the  River  Hamah  or  Orontes  terminated  its 
course  was,  and  is  worthy,  as  the  entrance  into  Hamath^  of 
being  recognised  as  a  heaven-appointed  border  of  that  land, 
which,  so  soon  as  it  is  entered,  thus  begins  to  assert  or  vin¬ 
dicate  the  title  given  it  by  the  Lord,  “  the  glory  of  all  lands.” 

The  entering  in  of  Hamath  from  Hor-ha-hor,  or  the  very 
high  mountain  pointed  owX  from  the  sea,  opens  the  way  from 
thence  to  other  places  of  which  mention  is  made  ;  and  far¬ 
ther  scriptural  definitions  are  given  of  the  north  border  of  Is¬ 
rael,  which  need  here  to  be  repeated. 

“  And  this  shall  be  your  north  border  :  from  the  great  sea 
ye  shall  point  out  for  you  Mount  Hor ;  and  from  Mount  Hor 
ye  shall  point  out  your  border  unto  the  entrance  of  Hamath  ; 
and  the  goiriffs  forth  of  the  border  shall  be  to  Zedad.  And 
the  border  shall  go  on  to  Ziphron,  and  the  goings  out  of  it 
shall  be  at  Hazar-enan :  this  shall  be  your  north  border.”* 
“  Every  place  whereon  the  soles  of  your  feet  shall  tread 
shall  be  vours  ;  from  the  wilderness  and  Lebanon,  from  the 
river,  the  River  Euphrates,  even  unto  the  uttermost  sea 
shall  your  coast  be,”t  &c.  “  This  shall  be  the  border  of 

your  land  towards  the  north  side,  from  the  great  sea,  the  way 
of  Hethlon,  as  men  go  to  Zedad  ;  Hamath,  Berothah,  Sib- 
raim,  which  is  between  the  border  of  Damascus  and  the 
border  of  Hamath ;  Hazar-hatticon,  which  is  by  the  coast 
of  Hauran.  And  the  border  from  the  sea  shall  be  Hazar- 
enan,  the  border  of  Damascus,  and  the  north  northward,  and 
the  border  of  Hamath.  And  this  is  the  north  side.”J  “  From 
the  north  end  to  the  coast  of  the  way  of  Hethlon,  as  one 
goeth  to  Hamath,  Hazar-enan,  the  border  of  Damascus 
northward,  to  the  coast  of  Hamath,  a  portion  for  Dan.”^ 


*  Num.,  xxxiv.,  7-9. 
t  Ezek.,  xlvii.,  15-17. 


t  Deut.,  xi.,  24. 
i)  Ibid.,  xlviii.,  1 


114 


THE  BOUNDARIES  OF 


These  different  places  to  which  the  way  lay,  from  the 
sea,  through  the  entrance  into  Hamath,  are,  in  general, 
slightly,  if  at  all,  noticed  by  geographers  of  the  Holy  Land, 
or  are,  as  by  Calmet,  &c.,  merely  said  to  be  towns  “  on  the 
north  border  of  Israel and  hence,  on  the  assumption  that 
the  terms  of  the  covenant  were  fully  ratified  of  old,  their 
places  have  been  sought  for  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  the 
ancient  borders,  or  even,  as  Hamath  in  the  land  of  Naphtali, 
within  the  old  Israelitish  possessions. 

It  is  not,  indeed,  said,  or  necessarily  implied,  that  all  the 
towns  or  places  here  mentioned  lay  on  x\iq  frontier  of  the 
land,  or  were  themselves  bordering  towns  of  Israel.  The 
manner  in  which  some  of  them  are  spoken  of  seems  to  im¬ 
ply  the  reverse.  The  entering  in  of  Hamath  manifestly,  as 
repeatedly  declared,  forms  the  northern  extremity,  or  border 
on  the  seacoast.  But  in  the  new  allocation  of  the  tribes  it 
is  written,  “  From  the  north  end  to  the  coast  of  the  way  of 
Hethlon,  as  one  goeth  to  Hamath^  Hazar-enan,  the  border 
of  Damascus  northward,  a  portion  for  Dan.”  The  border 
of  Damascus  northward  is  here  named,  not  as  the  north 
border  of  Israel,  but  as  the  limit  of  a  tribe  which  had  its 
portion  beyond  it.  And  the  mention  of  the  way  to  Hamath, 
and  other  places  from  the  north  end,  seems  plainly  to  de¬ 
note  their  relative  position,  if  not  towards  the  east  border, 
to  the  south,  or  within  the  limits  of  the  land. 

Of  these  different  names,  scarcely  any  one  has  had  a 
“  local  habitation”  attached  to  it  by  commentators  but  Be- 
rothah  alone  ;  and,  except  of  it,  scarcely  any  mention  is 
made  of  them  in  Scripture.  It  may  thus  be  inferred,  that  as 
unnamed,  if  not  unknown,  they  rather  lay  at  no  inconsider¬ 
able  distance  beyond  Dan,  than  either  near  it,  or  within  the 
old  inheritance  of  any  of  the  tribes.  Berothah  thus  is  in¬ 
cidentally  mentioned  when  the  distant  conquests  of  David 
are  recorded.  When  he  smote  Hadad-ezer,  and  recovered 
his  border  at  the  River  Euphrates,  and  established  his  do¬ 
minion  there,  “  he  took  much  brass  from  Berothai,  a  city  of 
Hadad-ezer.”*  The  proper  border  of  Israel  extended  from 
the  Mediterranean  to  the  Euphrates,  and  from  the  entering 
in  of  Hamath  as  men  go  to  Berothah.  Berothai  and  Bero¬ 
thah,  in  these  corresponding  passages,  pointing  to  the  same 
locality,  seem  evidently  identical ;  and  as  having  pertained 
to  David,  it  as  manifestly  lay  on  the  borders  which  he  went 


*  2  Sam.,  viii.,  3,  8. 


THE  PROMISED  LAND. 


115 


to  recover,  or  within  the  inheritance  of  Israel.  This  prom¬ 
ise  was  given  to  the  Israelites  by  the  Lord:  Every  place 
whereon  the  soles  of  your  feet  shall  tread  shall  he  yours. 
From  the  River  Euphrates  to  the  uttermost  sea  shall  your 
coast  he.  David  did  establish  his  dominion  by  the  Eu¬ 
phrates,  and  he  was  followed  by  thousands  of  Israel,  whose 
feet  did  tread  its  banks,  not  as  captives,  but  as  conquerors  ; 
and  Berothai  was  one  of  the  cities  which  owned  his  do¬ 
minion,  and  yielded  up  its  spoil.  The  fixing  of  its  site, 
therefore,  may  tend,  in  no  mean  degree,  to  the  more  precise 
determination  of  the  actual  borders  of  Israel. 

On  the  principle  of  proximity  to  Palestine,  and  from  the 
similarity  of  the  name,  Beyrouth  the  ancient  Berytus,  has  been 
said  to  be  Berothah  ;  and  hence  an  argument  has  been  drawn 
for  fixing  the  border  there.  The  derivatior*  which  has  been 
given  to  the  word  from  Beeroth,  wells,  might  seem,  if  cor¬ 
rect,  to  warrant  the  appropriation.  But  the  authority  of  Bo- 
charl,  as  alike  high  and  here  unprejudiced,  may  be  freely 
appealed  to;  and  the  incidental  testimony  which  he  addu¬ 
ces  from  the  famous  Sanchoniathon,  himself  a  native  of  Bey- 
rout,  might  be  accounted  decisive,  could  the  case  in  other 
respects  admit  of  a  question.  We  read  in  Scripture  that 
the  Israelites  made  Baal-berith  their  god.  “  Baal-berith, 
that  is,”  says  Bochart,  “  the  idol  of  Beerith  or  Berytus,”  &.c. ; 
and  as  Beerith,  in  the  Hebrew  form,  is  always  feminine,  he 
thus  quotes  Sanchoniathon  in  order  to  prove  that  “  Beerith, 
like  Astarte  and  Astergetes,  was  the  name  of  a  goddess, 
and  not  of  a  god.”  Among  them  there  was  one  called  Elion, 
that  is,  the  highest,  and  a  woman  called  Beruth  (that  is, 
Berith),  who  dwelt  near  Byblus  (namely,  adds  Bochart,  Be¬ 
rytus),  which  was  between  Byiilus  and  Sidon.*  Such  evi¬ 
dence,  of  unusual  precision  and  force  in  such  matters,  might 
have  set  at  rest  the  question  of  the  origin  of  the  name  of 
Berytus,  or  Beyrout,  which  is  thus  bereaved  of  its  chief 
claim  to  the  title  of  Berothah. 

The  name  of  Beerith — or  Berout  of  the  Greeks — whom 
the  Israelites  worshipped  after  the  death  of  Joshua,  mav 


*  Ita  hie  Triv  Baa^Scp'iO  dicamus  res  ipsa  postulat,  quia  Hei)raice  berith 

semper  est  feemiuinum.  Proinde  dese  non  dei  noinenfuit  apud  PhcEiiices,  ut  Astaite 
et  Atergates.  Quid  quod  Sanchoniathon  ita  asserit :  Kard  rodrouf  y/vera/ rif ’EAtoov 
K(ihovticvoq  vipiaroi  Kai  &n^£ta  Xeyoixivt}  Bripdvr ;  ol  khI  Kan^Kovv  iiepl  Bv6Xov,  Us 
aqualis  fuit  quidam  TV'7J7  elion,  id  est,  altissimus  dictus,  et  feemina  dicta  Beruth  (id 
est,  Berith),  qui  habitarunt  circa  Byblum,  nempe  Beryti,  quae  media  est  inter  Bybluia 
et  Eidonem. — Bochart,  Phaleg.,  775. 


118 


THE  BOUNDARIES  OF 


hence  supply  a  reason  why  the  Israelites  ceased  to  drive 
out  their  enemies  before  them,  and  why,  therefore,  the  dis¬ 
tance  was  so  great  between  the  reputed  and  real  borders  of 
the  promised  land,  so  that  Berytus,  though  past  the  one,  was 
far  short  of  the  other. 

It  is  needless  to  enlarge  on  other  and  more  direct  proofs 
that  Beyrout  is  not  and  cannot  be  Berothah. 

Were  not  its  maritime  position  fatal  to  its  claim  as  the 
north  borders  of  Israel,  it  would  be  left  far  to  the  south  ere 
a  man  came  over  against  Hamath.  But  Berothah,  along 
with  other  towns,  lies  evidently  inland,  as  the  entering  in  of 
Hamath  led  to  ihem  from  the  great  sea,  and  is  not,  like  Bey¬ 
rout,  on  its  beach.  It  was  situated  in  the  kingdom  of  Ha- 
dad-ezer,  which  stretched  along  the  Euphrates,  and  of  which 
Phoenicia  did  not  form  a  portion,*  and  not,  like  Beyrout,  on 
the  Phoenician  coast,  with  the  kingdoms  of  Hamath  and 
Damascus  intervening.  And  instead  of  either  reaching  the 
defined  north  border,  or  having  its  place  on  the  opposite 
side  from  the  sea,  near  the  great  river,  Beyrout  is  above  a 
hundred  and  fifty  miles  from  the  north  end  of  the  land  of 
Hamath,  and  still  farther  from  the  nearest  point  of  the  Eu¬ 
phrates. 

But  on  that  river  itself,  near  to  the  termination  of  the 
mountains  of  Amanus  on  the  east,  even  as  thev  stretch  from 
thence  to  the  great  sea  on  the  west,  immediately  north  of 
the  embouchure  of  the  Orontes,  there  still  exists  an  ancient 
town,  which  has  a  just  title  to  the  derivation  which  has 
been  given  to  Berytus,  without  any  transmutation,  and  which 
lacks  noihinof  that  can  be  needed  to  warrant  its  recognition 
as  the  Berothah  of  Scripture.  Beer,  or  the  Euphrates,  is 
the  Birat  of  the  Arabs,  and  the  Birtha  of  the  Greeks.  Beer, 
in  the  singular,  literally  signifies  a  well,  and  “  in  the  plural, 
in  Hebrew,  heeroth,  or  in  Arabic,  Inrath,  wells.”  It  has  for 
this  very  reason!  been  conjectured,  we  think,  not  without 
cause  shown,  erroneously,  that  such  was  the  origin  of  the 
name  of  Berytus.  But  in  respect  to  Beer  on  the  Euphrates, 
no  heathen  goddess  interposes  to  claim  the  name  as  her 
own  ;  the  word  has  its  literal  meaning,  like  Beer  in  Judea ; 
and  conjecture  may  be  dispensed  with  when  proof  may  be 
seen.  A1  Birat  is  described  by  Abulfeda  as  a  strong  and 
impregnable  fortress  on  the  banks  of  the  Euphrates.  In 

*  Nicolas  of  Damascus,  quoted  by  Josepbus,  Ant.,  vii.,  5,  2. 

t  Mr.  G.  Robinson;  Travels,  vol.  ii.,  p.  321. 


THE  PROMISED  LAND. 


117 


the  note  by  bis  learned  editor  Koehler,  the  identity  of  the 
name  and  place  is  still  more  clearly  marked.  “  It  cannot 
be  doubted,”  he  states,  “  that  this  is  the  same  as  the  Beer 
of  Pococke.  It  is  truly  the  Birtha  of  Hierocles.  It  was 
called  by  the  same  name  by  the  Syrians,  and  was  the  town 
of  which  Sergius  was  bishop.”*  The  Birtha,  or  Birath  of 
the  Arabs,  may  thus  clearly  be  identified  with  ihe  Berothah 
of  the  Hebrews.  And  its  right  to  such  a  name  is  made 
good  by  the  fact  stated  by  Abulfeda,  that  it  has  a  valley 
celebrated  under  the  name  of  Wadi’z  Zaituni,  or  valley  of 
olives,  which  rejoices  in  trees  •a.udi  founlains.^ 

The  goings  out  of  the  border  shall  be  at  Hazar-enan  ;  this 
shall  be  your  north  border.  The  border  from  the  sea  shall 
be  Hazar-enan.  The  portion  of  Dan  is  assigned,  From  the 
north  end  to  ihe  coast  of  the  way  of  Heihlony  as  one  goeth  to 
Ha  zar-ena,n,  &lc. 

Hazar-enan  is  described  as  lying  to  the  north  northward, 
or  far  north  of  Damascus  ;  and  it  formed  the  goings  out  of 
the  north  border  from  the  sea  ;  and  as  that  border  necessa¬ 
rily  extended  to  the  River  Euphrates,  Hazar-enan,  it  may 
be  inferred,  reached  unto  it. 

The  kingdom  of  Hadad-ezer,  which  David  subjected  to 
his  dominion  when  he  went  to  recover  his  border  on  the 
Euphrates,  and  within  which  Berothah  lay,  constituted  the 
northeastern  part  of  Syria,  beyond  Damascus  and  Hamath. 
From  the  power  and  opulence  of  its  king,  from  whom  David 
took  a  thousand  chariots,  seven  hundred  horsemen,  and 
twenty  thousand  footmen,  and  the  shields  of  gold^hat  were 
on  his  servants,  it  was  evidently  neither  a  poor  nor  diminu¬ 
tive  region.  The  Euphrates  was  its  border,  as  well  as  that 
of  the  promised  land  of  Israel,  and  Nicolas,  as  already  quo¬ 
ted,  relates  that  his  kingdom  extended  over  Syria. 

Although  the  author  has  sought  in  vain  for  the  name  of 
Hazar-enan  in  any  accessible  records  concerning  that  or  any 
other  region,  it  is  not  unworthy  of  notice  that  Comagene, 
the  extreme  region  of  Syria  on  the  northeast,  where  it  as¬ 
cended  farthest  on  the  Euphrates — on  which  river  the  go¬ 
ings  out  or  termination  of  the  north  border  necessarily  lay 
— bore  the  name  of  Azar,  as  marked  in  the  margin  of  Ptole¬ 
my’s  geography, J  and  expressly  stated  by  Adrichomius.^ 

*  Abulfeda,  Tab.  Syr.,  p.  127.  t  Ibid.  t  PtoL,  Geogr.,  lib.  v.,  1.5,  p.  15a 

^  A  Septeniptrione  quidem  Comagena  (regio  Syrise)  h»c  propius  adjacet  Ciliciae 


118 


THE  BOUNDARIES  OF 


The  name,  as  thus  written,  is  peculiar  to  that  region,  and, 
with  the  want  of  the  aspirate  alone,  may  be  a  mere  abbre¬ 
viation  of  that  of  Hazar-euRn.  It  was  also  called  Eup/ira- 
tensis,  as  Ptolemy  and  Adrichomius  both  relate  ;  and  while 
its  position  along  the  Euphrates  is  thus  manifest,  it  as  clear¬ 
ly  lay  to  the  west  of  that  river,  being  included  in  Syria, 
and  being  distinguished  from  Mesopotamia  and  Armenia, 
which  lay  beyond  it.  Samoisat  on  the  Euphrates,  and  An¬ 
tioch  near  the  Taurus,  the  modern  Aintab,  were  mentioned 
among  its  cities,  which,  as  Ptolemy,  the  prince  of  ancient 
geographers,  states,  were  the  first  in  order  on  the  north  of 
Syria, 

According  as  it  fell  into  the  hands  of  different  masters, 
Syria,  at  various  times,  was  divided  into  more  or  fewer 
provinces.  Of  the  five  prefectures  of  Syria,  as  stated  by 
Abulfeda,  the  first,  beginning  from  the  Euphrates,  was  Kin- 
nesrin,  or  Kinaserin,  which  included  other  provinces  be¬ 
sides  Comagene.  Kinnesrin,  the  Colchis  of  the  Greeks 
and  the  Romans,  was  more  anciently  called  Soba,  and  was 
identified  with  it  both  by  Jewish  and  Arab  writers,  as  stated 
by  the  learned  Golius,  in  his  notes  on  Alfergan.  And 
hence,  after  the  destruction  of  that  city,  when  Aleppo  be¬ 
came  in  its  place  the  metropolis  of  that  province,  as  for  a  long 
period  of  the  pachalic,  in  the  bonds  and  similar  writings  of 
the  Jews  of  that  country,  they  gave  to  Aleppo  the  title  of 
Aram  Soba,  or  Soba  of  Syria.*  The  kingdom  of  Zobah 
may  thus  be  identified  with  the  prefecture  of  Kinnesrin,  or 
the  pachalic  of  Aleppo.  The  mountains  of  Amanus  on  the 
north,  and  the  Euphrates  on  the  west,  were  its  natural  and 
actual  boundaries,  as  they  were  also  those  of  Syria.  Nic¬ 
olas  of  Damascus,  as  quoted  by  Josephus,  relates  that  Ha- 
dad-ezer  was  lord  of  all  Syria  (excluding  Palestine)  except 
Phmnicia.  And  when  David  had  smitten  all  the  host  of 
Hadad-ezer,  and  had  garrisoned  Damascus,  the  Syrians  be¬ 
came  servants  to  David,^  and  his  dominion  was  extended 
over  the  dominions  which  he  had  subdued. 

The  site  of  Hazar-enan,  as  described  in  Scripture,  is  pre¬ 
cisely  accordant  with  that  of  the  northeastern  province  of 
Syria.  It  lay  to  the  north  northward,  or  far  north  of  Da¬ 
mascus,  and  it  formed  the  outgoing,  or  termination  on  the 


ot  a  vicino  sibi  fluvio  Euphrati,  nunc  Euphratensis,  e.t  Eupbranis,  a  barbaris  vero 
Azar  dicitur.— Adnch.,  Theat.  Sancts  Terras,  p.  96. 

*  Gobi  Arfargan,  p.  275.  t  1  Chron.,  xviii.,  G- 


THE  PROMISED  LAND. 


119 


east,  of  the  north  borders  of  Israel,  that  extended  to  the  Eu 
phrates.  Beroihah  was  a  city  within  Israel’s  dominion, 
and  the  outgoings  of  the  border,  which  it  is  not  said  to  form, 
might  well  lie  beyond  it.  And  where  else  could  they 
cease  but  with  those  of  Syria,  whose  utmost  region  bore 
the  name  of  Azar,  and  formed  a  portion,  if  not  the  whole, 
of  the  kingdom  of  Zobah,  as  of  the  province  of  Kinnesrin, 
the  modern  pachalic  of  Aleppo,  to  which  also  Aintab,  Sa- 
moisat,  and  Beer  pertain. 

Long  after  the  sceptre  of  Jerusalem  had  ceased  to  be 
swayed  over  the  subservient  kingdom  of  Syria,  and  ten 
tribes  had  revolted,  and  Jews  and  Benjamites  alone  bowed 
before  the  throne  of  the  house  of  David,  and  when  the 
daughter  of  Jerusalem  cried  out  aloud,  Micah  prophesied, 
“  Unto  thee  shall  it  come,  even  the  first  dominion  ;  the 
kingdom  shall  come  to  the  daughter  of  Jerusalem.”*  War- 
ranUibly,  therefore,  may  we  search  for  the  border  of  that 
kingdom  where  David  went  to  recover  hi*s.  The  Israelites 
assuredly  should  occupy,  as  their  own  inheritance,  all  the 
land  possessed  by  the  Syrians,  and  in  which  they  served 
David.  And  as  on  every  other  side  the  promised  land 
passed  the  bounds  of  Syria,  there  is  still  farther  cause  to 
show  why  they  cannot  come  short  of  them  on  the  north 
border,  where  alone,  from  the  want  of  knowledge  of  the  pre¬ 
cise  localities  of  some  of  the  various  places  which  seem  to 
mark  it,  proof  may  appear  to  be  wanting. 

In  the  scriptural  description  of  the  north  border,  the 
names  of  various  places  occur,  which  hence  alone  have 
been  supposititiously  placed  along  the  ancient  frontier  on 
a  line  with  Dan,  which  certainly  formed  it.  But  the  testi¬ 
mony  of  Scripture  concerning  these  places  requires  to  be 
definitely  marked. 

It  is  declared  that  the  border  from  the  sea  shall  be  Hazar- 
enan,  or,  as  otherwise  expressed,  that  the  goings  out  of  it — 
or  the  extremity  of  the  north  border  on  the  east,  or  the  Eu¬ 
phrates — shall  be  at  Hazar-enan.  And  we  have  seen  that 
in  that  very  region,  on  the  opposite  end  of  the  same  mount¬ 
ain  range,  the  same  province  bore  the  names  of  Euphraten- 
sis  and  Azar,  and  lay  within  the  kingdom  of  Zobah,  which 
David  subdued  when  he  went  to  recover  his  border  on  the 
River  Euphrates. 

Other  places  are  spoken  of  in  connexion  with  the  en- 

*  Mioah,  iv.,  8. 


120 


THE  BOUNDARIES  OF 


trance  into  Hamath,  or  with  the  north  end  of  the  coast,  rath¬ 
er  than  as  of  themselves  frontier  towns.  From  the  very 
high  mountain  pointed  out  from  the  sea,  ye  shall  point  out 
unto  the  entrance  of  Hamath  ;  and  “  the  goings  forth  of  the 
border  shall  be  to  Zedad,  and  the  border  shall  go  on  to 
Ziphron,”*  &c.  “  This  shall  be  the  border  of  the  land  to¬ 

wards  the  north  side,  from  the  great  sea,  the  way  of  Heth- 
lon,  as  men  go  to  Zedad;  Hamath,  Berothah,  Sibraim, 
which  is  between  the  border  of  Damascus  and  the  border 
of  Hamath. ”t  “  From  the  north  end  to  the  coast  of  the 
way  of  Hethlon,  as  one  goelh  to  Flamatb,  Hazar-enan,  the 
border  of  Damascus  northward,  to  the  coast  of  Hamath,  for 
these  are  his  sides  east  and  west,  a  portion  for  Dan.”J 

Of  Berothah,  which  has  its  place  not  only  among  these 
names,  but  also  among  the  cities  which  David  took,  we 
have  already  spoken  ;  and  it  may  here  supply  an  illustra¬ 
tion,  how  words  that  are  seemingly  incomprehensible  may 
be  read  and  understood  as  most  literally  true. 

Thus,  on  the  supposition  that  Beyrout  is  Berothah,  what 
meaning  can  be  attached  to  these  terras, /rom  the  great  sea 
— and  as  men  go  to  Berothah,  when  the  fact  is,  that  in  dis¬ 
embarking  from  that  sea,  men  touch  it  at  a  step  ?  But  tvhen 
men,  even  from  a  distant  isle  of  the  Gentiles,  purpose  to 
go  to  Beer,  or  Berothah,  and  point  to  Mount  Casius  as  their 
first  landmark,  and  disembark  at  the  entrance  of  the  Oron- 
tes,  what  do  we  read  of  their  first  work,  and  of  their  farther 
progress,  when,  as  in  the  case  of  the  Euphrates  Expedi¬ 
tion,  they  pass  from  the  Mediterranean  to  Beer  on  the  Eu¬ 
phrates  ? 

“  In  the  neighbourhood  of  Amelia  dep6t  the  points  of 
most  interest  were  the  course  of  the  Orontes,  examined  by 
Lieutenant  Cleveland,  Messrs.  Eden,  Calderwood,  and  Fitz- 
James,  &c.  These  gentlemen,  in  conjunction  with  Messrs. 
Hector  and  Bell,  were  in  turns  employed  on  different  points, 
repairing  and  laidening  the  road  from  the  mouth  of  the  Oron~ 
tes  to  Antioch,  &:c.  Lieutenant  Lynch  was  employed  in 
improving  the  line  of  route  from  Antioch  by  Jisr  Hadid  to 
Bir”'^)  (Beer). 

Few  such  words  form  a  clear  and  conclusive  comment¬ 
ary  ;  and,  thus  passed  by  British  engineers,  the  road  from 

*  E25ek.,  xlviii.,  1.  t  Num.,  xxxiv.,  8,  9.  t  Ezek.,  xlvii.,  15,  16. 

^  Colonel  Chesney  on  the  Expedition  to  the  Euphrates,  Geogr.  Journal,  vol.  vii., 
p.  415. 


THE  PROMISED  LAND. 


121 


the  entrance  into  Hamath,  and  from  thence  as  men  go  to  Be- 
roihali,  may  no  longer  be  a  mystery  among  biblical  critics. 

But  other  cities  are  named  besides  Beroihah,  though  in 
other  directions,  to  which  the  same  entrance  led  from  the 
sea. 

From  the  great  sea,  the  way  of  Hethlon,  as  men  go  to  'Ze- 
dad,  Hadad,  Berothah,  &c.  From  the  north  end  to  the 
coast  of  the  way  of  Hethlon,  as  one  goetk  to  Hamath,  Hazar- 
enan,  &c. 

Front  the  same  point  different  lines  of  communication, 
“  roads,”  or  “  lines  of  route,”  led  to  the  north,  and  in  other 
directions,  as  vvell  as  to  the  east;  to  Hamath,  &c.,  as  well 
as  to  Berothah. 

It  is  a  remarkable  peculiarity  of  the  entrance  into  Ha¬ 
math,  that  there  is  no  other  on  the  north  or  on  the  west 
by  which  to  pass,  without  crossing  mountains,  from  the 
Mediterranean.  For  this  reason  it  was  chosen  by  Colonel 
Chesney,  and  fixed  on  by  Bonaparte,  when  he  purposed  to 
go  to  the  Euphrates.  “  In  l8ll,”  says  Colonel  Chesney, 
“Napoleon  had  prepared  a. fleet  at  Toulon,  which  was  to 
have  disembarked  a  large  force  in  this  bay  ;  and  M.  Vin¬ 
cent  Germain  was  waiting  at  Antioch  for  the  expected 
troops,  which  had,  in  the  mean  time,  been  marched  to  Rus¬ 
sia  instead  of  taking  the  route  from  Suweidiyah  to  India. 
Marash  was  to  have  been  the  centre  of  his  operations,  prob¬ 
ably  on  account  of  the  fine  forests  near  that  town  ;  but  as 
the  Beilan  Mountains  would  have  furnished  plenty  of  fine 
tiinUer  close  at  hand,  it  is  not  likely  that  this  great  captain 
would  have  gone  to  Marash,  when  110  miles  through  Anti¬ 
och  and  Aleppo  would  have  placed  him  at  Beles,  200  miles 
lower  dozen  the  river.  There  is  reason  to  presume  that  Bo¬ 
naparte  meant  to  carry  his  troops  down  the  river  to  Basrah. 
But  the  Russian  campaign  put  an  end  to  this.”* 

Whether  men  were  to  go  from  the  Mediterranean  to  Beer 
or  to  Beles,  the  route  lay  through  the  entrance  into  Hamath. 
And  that  entrance  had  to  be  passed  in  like  manner  in  going 
from  the  north  end  of  the  land  of  Israel,  and  advancing 
southward  to  Hamath,  or  to  the  border  of  Damascus.  ,  In 
the  former  direction  there  is  a  plain  which  spreads  forth  to¬ 
wards  ancient  towns  on  the  Euphrates  ;  and  in  the  latter, 
the  valley  of  the  Orontes,  into  which,  though  wholly  shut 
in  by  a  hill-country  from  access  to  the  sea,  other  valleys 

*  Geograph.  Journal,  vol.  viii.,  p.  234. 

L 


122 


THE  BOUNDARIES  OF 


and  plains  open  to  the  eastward.  The  termination  of  the 
entrance  into  Hamath  is  thus  a  radiating  point,  from  which 
various  lines  of  communication  stretched  out  to  distant  and 
widely-separated  cities.  Thus,  when  the  Euphrates  Ex¬ 
pedition  passed  through  the  entrance  into  Hamath,  a  new 
road  was  not  made,  even  for  the  transit  of  very  heavy  mate¬ 
rials,  but  the  old  road  was  widened  and  repaired  ;  and 
again  from  Antioch  to  Bir  the  line  of  route  was  improved. 
In  like  manner,  in  going  from  the  same  entrance,  or  from 
the  north  end  of  the  land,  and,  consequently,  southward,  an 
ancient  Itinerary*  shows  the  way,  and  marks  the  distances 
from  Antioch  to  Hamath,  between  which  cities  there  was 
a  Roman,  and,  doubtless,  more  ancient  road.  A  view  of 
the  valley  of  the  Orontes,  near  to  Apamea,  given  in  Burck- 
hardt’s  map,  shows  a  “  Roman  road”  passing  through  its 
centre,  and  which  is  marked  at  the  southern  extremity  of 
the  chart,  the  road  to  Hamah. 

Sudud,  a  large  village,  situated  to  the  northwest  of  Pal¬ 
myra,  and  north  of  a  mountain  range  that  stretches  eastward 
in  the  direction  of  that  ancient  city,  was  visited  by  Mr.  Eli 
Smith  in  1834,  and  identified  by  him  with  Zedad.  Two 
mountain  ranges  lie  between  it  and  the  Mediterranean  ;  but, 
if  the  writer  errs  not,  it  may  be  reached  without  passing  one, 
by  the  valley  of  the  Orontes.  It  is  marked  by  Mr.  Smith 
in  the  list  of  names  of  places  between  Deir  Atiych  and  Ed- 
Deir  on  the  Euphrates.! 

The  site  of  Hethlon,  or  of  any  city  of  that  name,  is  un¬ 
known.  The  manner  in  which  it  is  mentioned,  in  the  only 
two  places  in  which  it  occurs  in  Scripture,  in  connexion 
with  Zedad  and  Hamath,  is  deserving  of  notice.  “  From 
the  great  sea,  the  way  of  Hethlon,  as  men  go  to  Zedad, 
Hamath,”  &c.  The  definition  of  the  border  of  Dan  thus 
-  begins.  “  From  the  north  end  to  the  coast  by  the  way  of 
Hethlon,  as  one  goeth  to  Hamah, &.c.  The  first  letter  of 
the  name  Hethlon  being  r\,cheth,  not  n,  he,  Chethlon  would 
be  the  more  correct  pronunciation.  Abulfeda  speaks  of  a 
mountain,  or  hill,  A1  Chaith,j  near  Apamea,  in  the  valley 
of  the  Orontes.  And  in  the  view  given  by  Burckhardt  of 
that*  part  of  the  valley,  a  village  is  marked,  called  Houyeth 
(evidently  the  same  name,  and  in  the  same  locality,  as  that 

*  Itin.  Antonini. 

t  Robinson  and  Smith’s  Researches  in  Palestine,  toI.  iii.,  App.,  p.  174. 

I  Abulfedae,  Tab.  Syrise,  p  123, 223. 


THE  PROMISED  LAND. 


123 


mentioned  by  Abulfeda),  and  also  a  small  lake,  Ayn  Houyetli, 
beside  which  passed  the  Roman  road  from  Antioch  to  Ha¬ 
math.  tb,  /w,  lun^  signifies  to  stay  or  abide,  &c.,  as  a  name 
derived  from  it,  Me-lun,  a  place  to  lodge  and  stay  in  (2 
Kings,  xix.,  23  ;  Josh.,  iv.,  8),  and  the  name  may  have  thus 
suffered  abbreviation.  Chaith  lay  in  the  way  from  the  en¬ 
trance  into  Hamath,  both  to  Zedad  and  Hamath  ;  though, 
after  passing  it,  the  way  by  which  men  went,  and  may  yet 
go,  to  the  former  likely  diverged  to  the  eastward. 

Sibraim  and  Hazar-hatticon  are  also  unknown  ;  but  the 
former  lay  between  the  border  of  Damascus  and  the  border 
of  Hamath^  and  the  other  on  the  coast  of  Hauran.  They 
were  cities  to  which  men  went  from  the  north  end  of  the 
land,  but,  obviously,  they  did  not  form  part  of  it.  The 
Hauran  here  named  is  supposed  to  have  beeii  the  same  as 
Aurana  of  Ptolemy,  a  town  on  the  Euphrates,  as  noted  in 
the  margin  in  various  editions  of  his  Geography.*  The 
only  name  at  all  similar  to  Sibraim,  which  the  author  has 
been  able  to  discover,  is  that  of  a  village,  or  ruined  town, 
in  the  mountains  of  Rieha,  in  Burckhardt’s  list,t  Zer  Szab~ 
ber^  the  plural  termination  of  which  in  Hebrew  w'ould  be 
Szabberim.  Were  it  the  Sibraim,  which  is  between  the 
border  of  Damascus  and  the  border  of  Hamath,  though  the 
entrance  into  the  land  would  remain  unaltered,  the  fact 
would  be  in  accordance  with  the  opinion  of  the  Jews,  that 
Antioch,  not  Epiphania,  was  the  capital  of  Hamath. 

The  only  other  place  named  is  Ziphron,  of  which  it  is 
peculiarly  said.  And  the  border  shall  go  on  to  Ziphron.  It 
would  seem  to  be  still  unascertained.  Jerome  supposed  it 
to  be  Zephurium  on  the  Cilician  coast.J  If  such  it  were, 
the  passes  of  the  Taurus  would  be  in  the  hands  of  the  Is¬ 
raelites  ;  and  the  region  of  Adana,  on  the  Cilician  coast,  by 
contending  for  which  Mohammed  Ali  lost  Syria,  would  be  a 
portion  of  the  coast  of  Israel,  without  their  passing  the 
mountain  chain  of  Taurus  and  Amanus. 

The  Taurus  or  Amanus  were  believed  by  the  Jews  to  be 
the  Hor-ha-hor  of  Scripture,  and  were  thus  held  by  them  to 
be  the  northern  frontier  of  the  land  promised  to  their  fathers. 
But,  though  Hor-ha-hor  admits  of  a  more  precise  definition, 
the  idea  that  the  Amanus,  which  Jerome  adopted,  was  the 
north  border  of  Israel,  is,  as  we  have  seen,  warranted  by 
many  other  facts.  Biblical  critics  and  geographers,  such 
*  Ptolem.,  lib.  v.,  c.  19.  t  Burck.,  Syria,  p.  130.  t  Tom.  e.,  p.  598. 


124 


THE  BOUNDARIES  OF 


as  Bochart,  Poole,  Cellarius^  Reland,  &:c.,in  looking  alone 
to  the  ancient  borders,  and  utterly  disowning  any  other,  stig¬ 
matized  the  idea  as  absurd  and  ‘’ridiculous,”  as  assuredly 
it  would  have  been  had  the  borders  of  the  land  in  which  the 
Israelites  dwelt,  arid  that  which  the  Lord  promised  to  Abra¬ 
ham,  been  one  and  the  same.  In  not  distinguishing  thiriijs 
that  dilfer,  they  overlooked  the  covenant  and  the  promi¬ 
ses  of  God  ;  and  in  ridiculing  what  they  accounted  Jewish 
pretensions  as  idle  fables,  though  these  were  false  in  respect 
to  the  past,  they  forgot  that,  in  respect  to  the  future,  this  ar¬ 
rogance  was  theirs — while  they  denied  that  Israel  had  any 
part  in  Amanus — a  wiser  than  Solomon  is  here  ! 

Solomon’s  dominion,  though  only  the  image~o{  that  which 
shall  yet  be  restored  to  Israel,  may  serve  as  the  measure  of 
its  borders.  The  sovereign  lord  of  Hamath  and  of  Zobah, 
and  of  cities  on  the  Euphrates  beyond  them,  was  not  ignorant 
of  Amana  (or  Amanus),  nor  does  he  keep  silence  concern¬ 
ing  it  in  his  prophetic  song.  The  figure  is  common  to  the 
prophets,  that,  as  the  bridegroom  rejoiceth  over  his  bride,  so 
will  the  Lord  rejoice  over  Israel.  The  very  land  shall  be 
called  Beulah,  or  married.  “  Go,”  saith  the  prophet,  “  and 
proclaim  these  words  towards  the  north,  and  say.  Return, 
thou  backsliding  Israel,  saith  the  Lord  ;  and  I  will  not  cause 
mine  anger  to  fall  upon  you  ;  for  I  am  merciful,  saith  the  Lord, 
and  I  will  not  keep  anger  forever.  Turn,  O  backsliding 
children,  saith  the  Lord,  for  I  am  married  unto  you.  I  will 
bring  you  unto  Zion.  At  that  time  they  shall  call  Jerusalem 
the  throne  of  the  Lord.”*  Israel  is  “the  married  wife.”t 
How  aptly  to  these  words  of  the  prophets  do  those  also  of 
Solomon  apply  :  “  Come  with  me  from  Lebanon,  my  spouse, 
with  me  from  Lebanon  ;  look  from  the  top  of  Amana^X 

The  mountains  of  Amanus,  as  Strabo  relates,  extend  from 
the  Mediterranean  to  the  Euphrates.  They  formed  the 
northern  boundary  of  Syria,  the  northernmost  of  whose  lands 
were  those  of  Hamath  and  of  the  kingdom  of  Hadad-ezer  on 
the  Euphrates,  within  which  was  Berothah.  They  were 
thus  from  end  to  end  the  northern  and  natural  boundary  of 
the  dominion  of  David  and  Solomon,  as  also  of  Syria,  which 
they  separated  from  Cilicia.  Beir  is  distant,  in  a  direct  line, 
a  hundred  and  thirty-three  miles  from  the  mouth  of  the  Oron- 
tes,  and  touching  the  one  on  the  entrance  into  Hamath  on  the 
west,  and  bordering  also  on  the  east  with  the  other,  the  range 

^  Jer.,  iii.,  12,  14,  17.  t  Isa.,  Ivi.,  1.  t  Song  of  Solomon, 


THE  PROMISED  LAND. 


125 


of  Amanus  is  Nature’s  own  barrier,  which  shuts  in  the  land, 
and  forms  a  boundary  defined  as  any  can  be.  Amanus,  says 
Cotovicus,  who  himself  looked  from  the  top  of  it,  as  we  shall 
hereafter  see,  extends  for  a  great  space  like  an  overhanging 
wall,  and  separates  Cijicia  from  Assyria — Amanus  instar 
muri  imminentissirni,  per  longissima  spalia  sese  extendit  et 
Ciliciam  a  Syria  disterminai*  Such  a  noble  Alpine  barri¬ 
er  from  the  east  side  to  the  west  side  is  a  worthy  boundary 
of  “  the  glorious  land  and  it  hems  in  at  once  all  the  land 
of  the  Canaanites,  all  the  land  of  the  Giblites,  all  the  land 
of  Hamath,  and  the  ancient  kingdom  of  Hadad-ezer,  while 
the  entrance  into  Hamath  is  its  scriptural  witness  on  one 
side,  and  Berothah  on  the  other.  Fronting  Mount  Casius, 
near  the  base  of  which  is  Laodicea,  in  the  land  of  the  Ar- 
vadites,  it  forms  the  north  end  of  that  land  ;  fronting  also  the 
wider  valley  of  the  Orontes  in  the  interior,  it  forms  the  north 
end  of  the  land  of  Hamath,  and  turns  back  its  river,  though 
long  “  rebellious”  and  reversed,  and  sends  it  at  length  direct 
towards  the  sea  ;  while  on  the  east  it  reaches  towards  the  Eu¬ 
phrates,  and  a  high  mountain  range  passes  that  river  above 
Bir,  to  which  the  Euphrates  is  navigable  from  the  Persian 
Gulf.  From  that  river  to  the  uttermost  sea  (or. the  extremity, 
may  we  not  say,  of  the  Mediterranean  on  the  north,  for  there 
the  Euphrates  most  nearly  approaches  it),  a  mountain  chain 
extends,  which,  though  with  separate  branches,  forms  a  con¬ 
tinuous  barrier.  Of  the  Amanus  and  Rhosus,  or  the  Jawur 
Dagh  and  Akma  Dagh,  Mr.  Ainsworth  states,  that  “  the  two 
chains  are  nominally  separated  by  the  pass  of  Beilan ;  but 
they  are,  in  reality,  continuous  with  one  another.  The 
Jawur  Dagh  attains  a  greater  altitude  than, the  Akma  Dagh, 
the  culminating  points  being  to  the  north.  The  average 
elevation  of  the  Akma  Dagh  is  a  little  more  than  5000  feet 
above  the  Mediterranean  ;  that  of  the  Jawur  Dagh  is  from 
5000  to  6000  feet.”!  The  pass  of  Beilan,  instead  of  being 
a  valley  with  a  navigable  stream  like  that  of  the  Orontes  on 
the  lip  of  the  ocean,  is  1584  feet  above  the  Mediterranean. ;j; 

Here,  then,  at  the  termination  of  the  plain  of  Phoenicia 
and  the  land  of  Hamath,  is  a  boundarv  which  is  as  marked 
as  that  of  the  Nile ;  and  the  geographical  features  of  the 
land  unite  with  the  scriptural  records  in  proof  that  it  is  also 
a  boundary  along  all  the  north  end  of  the  land,  respecting 
which,  as  was  said  of  that  river,  “  there  can  be  no  dispute.” 

*  Cotaici  Itin.,  p.  502.  +  Ainsworth’s  Assyria,  p.  313.  t  Ibid.,  note. 

L  2 


126 


THE  BOUNDARIES  OF 


But  if  there  should  be  any  doubt  or  dispute,  both  might 
vanish  at  the  word  Amana,  as  written  in  the  holy  oracles, 
like  many  others,  ybr  a  time  to  come.  In  prophetic  vision,  if 
not  in  fact — we  believe,  assuredly,  the  former — Zion’s  king 
could  speak  of  looking,  not  alone,  from  the  top  of  Amana. 
In  either  case,  the  conclusion  is  irresistible,  that  the  land 
of  Israel,  intercepted  by  no  other,  was  from  thence  in  imme¬ 
diate  view.  And  as.  Antioch  was  said  to  be  the  apex  of 
Syria,  the  word  Amana  may  crown  the  argument  that  the 
border  of  Israel  is  here. 

Though  that  word  occurs  but  once  in  Scripture,  it  is  as¬ 
sociated,  as  we  have  seen,  with  a  figure  common  to  the 
prophets,  and  which  recurs  again  and  again  in  the  Old  Tes¬ 
tament  and  in  the  New,  the  significancy  of  which  admits 
not  of  a  doubt.  And  we  are  taught  to  look  from  what  Israel 
is,  to  what  Israel  shall  be  when  the  Lord  shall  be  unto  her  a 
husband  again. 

“  I  will  make  her  that  halteth  a  remnant,  and  her  that  was 
cast  far  oflT  a  strong  nation,  and  the  Lord  shall  reign  over 
them  in  Mount  Zion  from  henceforth,  even  forever.  And 
thou,  O  tower  of  the  flock,  the  stronghold  of  the  daughter  of 
Zion,  unto  thee  shall  it  come,  even  the  first  dominion ;  the 
kingdom  shall  come  to  the  daughter  of  Jerusalem.”*  Solo¬ 
mon,  in  the  full  extent  of  his  kingdom,  and  in  all  his  glory, 
could  not  utter  words  that  shall  not  be  realized  in  greater 
glory  then.  And  when  the  first  dominion  and  the  kingdom 
shall  come  to  the  daughter  of  Jerusalem,  and  that  city  shall 
be  called  the  throne  of  the  Lord,  and  when  she  shall  put  on 
her  beautiful  garments^  and  be  adorned  like  a  bride  for  her 
husband,  who  that  has  passed  from  Dan  to  the  north  end  of 
Hamath,  without  touching  a  foot  of  ground  that  is  not,  ac¬ 
cording  to  the  covenant,  Israelitish  soil,  and  sees  the  mount¬ 
ains  of  Amanus,  with  the  sought-for  entrance  on  the  shores 
of  the  Mediterranean  on  the  one  end,  and  Berothah  on  the 
banks  of  the  Euphrates  on  the  other,  can  say  that  Israel’s 
heritage  does  not  reach  to  the  natural  frontier  of  Syria  on 
the  north  ?  And  although,  in  past  times,  biblical  critics, 
groping  darkly  around  the  ancient  limits,  controverted  the 
testimony  of  the  heirs  of  the  promise,  and  denied  that  the 
borders  of  Israel  reach  to  Amanus,  what  power  on  earth  can 
controvert  the  word,  or  frustrate  the  purpose  of  the  Lord, 
when,  as  if  himself  declaring  the  difference  between  the  an- 


*  Micah,  iv.,  7,  8. 


THE  PROMISED  LAND. 


127 


cient  and  everlasting  borders  of  his  people,  He  shall  say  to 
Israel,  as  her  husband  and  her  king^  “  Come  with  me  from 
Lebanon,  my  spouse,  with  me  from  Lebanon  ;  look  with  me 
from  the  top  of  Amana,  from  the  lop  of  Shenir  and  Hermon  ?” 
Who  can  say  that,  in  obeying  the  command,  she  would  pass 
her  proper  borders,  though  Dan  were  left  far  behind  ;  or 
look  on  any  other  land  than  her  own  between  Amana  and 
Lebanon  1  And  who,  beholding  the  mountain  range,  as  it 
rises  high  like  a  bounding  wall,  may  not  conceive  a  literal 
signiticancy  in  the  description  of  the  land  as  a  garden  en¬ 
closed,  as  these  everlasting  hills  await  the  time  when  the  land 
shall  be,  as  other  prophets  tell,  like  the  garden  of  the  Lord  ? 

SECTION  IV. 

THE  SOUTH  BORDER. 

Having  passed  far  beyond  Dan  in  search  of  the  north¬ 
ern  frontier,  it  is  not  at  Beersheba  that  we  are  to  look 
for  that  of  the  south.  Yet  here,  again,  the  conflicting 
opinion  has  to  be  met,  that  Israel  has  no  other  bound¬ 
aries  than  those  of  old  ;  and  the  bounds  that  were  set 
on  the  south,  as  those  of  the  inheritance  of  the  Israelites 
when  they  entered  Canaan,  have  been  hel.d  as  identified 
with  the  utmost  limits  of  the  kingdom  of  Israel. 

But  not  only  did  the  sentence  go  forth  against  the 
Israelites,  when  they  proved  faithless  in  the  covenant, 
and  when  they  were  slack  to  go  in  and  possess  the  land, 
that  the  Lord  would  no  more  drive  out  their  enemies 
before  them,  but  their  prescribed  borders  on  their  first 
entrance  were  not  the  same  as  those  which  the  promises 
of  God  have  set  around  their  final  and  everlasting  in¬ 
heritance.  Ammon  and  Moab,  beyond  Jordan  and  the 
Dead  Sea,  lay  to  the  south  of  the  trans-Jordanic  tribes. 
Concerning  the  south  boundary  of  the  other  tribes,  it  is 
thus  written:  “The  Lord  spake  unto  Moses,  saying. 
Command  the  children  of  Israel,  and  say  unto  them, 
when  ye  come  unto  the  land  of  Canaan,  then  your  south 
quarter  shall  be  from  the  wilderness  of  Zin  along  by  the 
coast  of  Edom,  and  your  south  border  shall  be  the  out¬ 
most  coast  of  the  salt  sea  eastvvard,  and  your  border 
shall  turn  from  the  south  to  the  ascent  of  Akrabbim,  and 
pass  on  to  Zin  :  and  the  going  forth  thereof  shall  be  from 
the  south  to  Kadesh-barnea,”*  &c. 

*  Numb.,  xxxir.,  1-4. 


128 


THE  BOUNDARIES  OF 


The  salt  sea,  the  outermost  coast  of  which  anciently 
formed  a  boundary  on  the  souths  is  doubtless  the  Dead 
Sea,  “in  the  vale  of  Siddim.”*  When  the  Israelites 
passed  the  Jordan,  “  the  waters  that  came  down  towards 
the  sea  of  the  plain,  even  the  salt  sea,  failed,”!  &c.  The 
whole  land  of  Edom  was  thus  excluded.  And  the  bor¬ 
der  was  then  set  at  the  distance  of  at  least  a  degree  and 
a  half  of  latitude,  or,  in  a  line  directly  north,  more  than 
a  hundred  miles  from  the  nearest  point  of  the  Red  Sea, 
by  which  the  Lord  had  promised  to  set  the  bounds  of 
Israel. 

Joshua  recorded  the  words  of  the  Lord  touching  the 
southern  border  of  the  land  when  the  Israelites  under 
the  law  entered  Canaan.  Ezekiel  records  that  which 
the  Lord  hath  said,  in  declaring  what  are  the  borders 
whereby  Israel  shall  inherit  the  land,  concerning  which 
the  Lord  lifted  up  his  hand  unto  their  fathers.  And  the 
south  side  southward,  from  Tamar  even  unto  the  waters  of 
strife  in  Kadesh,  the  river  to  the  great  sea.\ 

That  Kadesh  lay  to  the  south  of  Edom  may  be  clear 
from  those  passages  of  Scripture  in  which  it  is  spoken  of 
in  connexion  with  the  Red  Sea.  Kadesh  was  the  inter¬ 
mediate  station  between  Ezion-gaber  and  Mount  Hor,  as 
the  multitudinous  hosts  of  Israel  advanced  to  the  south 
border  of  Edom.  “  They  removed  from  Ezion-gaber,  and 
pitched  in  the  wilderness  of  Zin,  which  is  Kadesh.  And 
they  removed  from  Kadesh,  and  'pitched  in  Mount  Hor,  in 
the  edge  of  the  land  of  Edom.^'’§  And  after  their  long 
wanderings  in  the  desert  had  ended,  and  the  time  had 
come  when  the  Edomites  dared  no  lonofer  refuse  them 
a  passage  through  their  coast,  their  departure  from  Ka¬ 
desh  is  thus  narrated:  “So  ye  abode  in  Kadesh  many 
days.  Then  we  turned,  and  took  our  journey  into  the 
wilderness,  by  the  way  of  the  Red  Sea,  as  the  Lord  spake 
unto  me  ;  and  we  compassed  Mount  Seir  many  days. 
And  the  Lord  spake  unto  me,  saying.  Ye  have  compass¬ 
ed  this  mountain  long  enough  :  turn  you  northward. 
And  command  thou  the  people,  saying.  Ye  are  to  pass 
through  the  coast  of  your  brethren,  the  children  of  Esau, 
which  dwell  in  Seir,  and  they  shall  be  afraid  of  you  : 
meddle  not  with  them,”!]  &c.  From  Kadesh  they  took 


*  Genesis,  xiv.,  3.  t  Joshua,  iii.,  16. 

k  Numb.,  xxxiii.,  36,  37. 


t  Ezekiel,  xlvii.,  19. 

II  Deut.,  i.,  46  ;  ii.,  1-5. 


THE  PROMISED  LAND. 


129 


their  journey  by  the  way  of  the  Red  Sea,  and  they  pass¬ 
ed  northward  (ar  from  the  south)  through  the  coast  of 
the  Edomites.  And  the  same  journey,  when  over,  is 
thus  described:  “  When  we  passed  by  from  our  breth¬ 
ren  the  children  of  Esau,  which  dwelt  in  Seir,  through 
the  way  of  the  plain  from  Elath  and  from  Ezion-gaber^ 
we  turned  and  passed  by  the  way  of  the  wilderness  of 
Moab.”* 

There  is  thus  a  perfect  accordance  between  the  ex¬ 
clusion  of  Edom  at  a  time  when  the  children  of  Judah 
were  not  to  receive  so  much  as  a  foot-breadth  of  that 
land,  and  the  appointment  of  the  Dead  Sea  for  their  bor¬ 
der  j  and  also,  on  the  other  hand,  between  the  prophetic 
annunciation  that  Edom  shall  be  a  possession,  and  the 
promise  that  the  Lord  will  set  their  bounds,  not,  as  of 
old,  by  the  Dead  Sea,  but  by  the  Red  Sea.  There  is,  too, 
a  strictly  analogous  diversity  between  the  inheritance  of 
Israel  with  Beersheba  for  its  southern  extremity,  and  the 
kingdom  of  Solomon,  with  Ezion-gaber  as  his  port,  or  the 
journeying  of  the  Israelites  from  Kadesh  by  the  way  of 
the  Red  Sea  and  of  the  plain  from  Eloth  and  Ezion-ga¬ 
ber.  Edom  was  tributary  to  David  and  to  Solomon,  and 
owned  their  supremacy.  But,  great  as  was  the  glory  of 
the  kingdom  of  Israel  then,  it  only  prefigured  a  greater. 
And  the  kingdom  yet  to  be  restored  cannot  be  circum¬ 
scribed  by  narrower  bounds,  or  acknowledge  as  its  own, 
on  the  south  any  more  than  on  the  north,  the  ancient 
border  of  Judah  or  of  Dan. 

Thus  obviously  the  future  and  actual  allocation  of  the 
tribes,  when,  under  the  everlasting  covenant,  they  shall 
inherit  the  land,  is  altogether  different  from  that  which 
subsisted  at  a  time  when  they  were  expressly  prohibit¬ 
ed  from  occupying  as  their  own  the  smallest  portion  of 
the  lands  of  Edom,  or  Moab,  or  Ammon,  whose  territo¬ 
ries  are  as  expressly  and  ultimately  assigned  to  them,  as 
included  in  the  promises. 

Joshua,  who  held  forth  the  law  like  an  iron  rod,  spake 
not  concerning  the  borders  bf  the  tribes  of  Israel  as  did 
Ezekiel  the  prophet,  who,  as  a  herald,  bore  the  banner 
of  a  better  covenant.  In  Joshua’s  days,  seven  tribes,  or 
more  than  half  of  Israel,  had  not  received  their  inherit¬ 
ance.  That  of  Judah  was  planted  as  its  lot  was  cast,  on 

*  Deut.,  ii,,  8, 


130 


THE  BOUNDARIES  OF 


the  southern  extremity  of  the  land  which  was  then  as¬ 
signed  them.  No  other  tribe  lay  between  it  and  the 
coast  of  Edom,  or  the  extremity  of  the  Dead  Sea,  to  the 
south  of  which  the  restricted  border  of  Israel  did  not 
pass.  But  when  the  twelve  tribes  shall  all  inherit  the 
land,  and  each  have  its  portion,  the  one  as  well  as  the 
other,  according  to  the  covenant  of  God  with  their 
fathers,  the  lot  shall  not  be  cast  as  on  their  first  en¬ 
trance  into  Canaan,  but  beyond  its  bounds,  as  well  as  in¬ 
cluding  all  the  land  of  the  Canaanites ;  every  tribe  shall 
possess  its  inheritance  as  that  of  each  has  been  appoint¬ 
ed,  successively  from  north  to  south,  and  extending 
from  east  to  west,  as  the  Lord  himself  has  assigned 
them.  Judah  is  his  lawgiver,  and  shall  still  inherit  Je¬ 
rusalem.  But  the  kingdom  shall  be  rent  no  more.  And 
the  portion  of  Judah  has  its  appointed  place,  not  on  the 
outskirts  of  the  other  tribes,  but  rather  in  the  centre, 
with  six  tribes  to  the  north,  and  five  to  the  south.  Of 
its  relative  position  in  regard  to  the  last  of  these,  we  read, 
“The  border  of  Judah,  from  the  east  side  to  the  west 
side,  &c.  As  for  the  rest  of  the  tribes,  from  the  east  side 
unto  the  west  side,  Benjamin  shall  have  a  portion.  And 
by  the  border  of  Benjamin,  from  the  east  side  unto  the 
west  side,  Simeon  shall  have  a  portion.  And  by  the 
border  of  Simeon,  from  the  east  side  unto  the  west  side, 
Issachar  a  portion.  And  by  the  border,of  Zebulon,  from 
the  east  side  unto  the  west  side.  Gad  a  portion.  And 
by  the  border  of  Gad,  at  the  south  side  southward,  the 
border  shall  be  even  from  Tamar  unto  the  waters  of 
strife  in  Kadesh,  and  to  the  river  towards  the  great  sea. 
This  is  the  land  which  ye  shall  divide  by  lot  unto  the 
tribes  of  Israel  for  inheritance,  and  these  are  their  por¬ 
tions,  saith  the  Lord  God.”* 

But  the  fixing  of  the  south  border  of  the  land  respects 
not  these  regions  alone,  or  the  length  of  the  land  of 
Edom,  against  which  the  sentence  of  desolation  has  gone 
forth  ;  but,  by  the  extension  of  the  bounds  of  Israel  from 
the  Dead  Sea,  as  they  were  fixed  in  the  covenant  made 
under  the  law,  to  the  Red  Sea,  by  which  they  shall  be 
set,  an  equal  space  to  that  of  the  difference  in  latitude 
between  these  seas  is  thereby  included  from  north  to 

*  Ezekiel,  ilviii.,  23-29. 


a 


THE  PROMISED  LAND.  131 

south,  throughout  all  the  breadth  of  the  land,  where  it 
is  measured  by  more  than  a  thousand  miles. 

The  separate  portions  of  each  and  all  of  the  tribes  of 
Israel,  as  appointed  by  the  Lord,  but  never  yet  possess¬ 
ed  for  a  day,  beginning  from  the  north,  extend  succes¬ 
sively,  in  obviously  parallel  departments,  from  the  east  side 
to  the  west  side,  till  the  boundary  line  of  the  last  passes  . 
through  Kadesh,  and  touches  the  Red  Sea.  Were  the 
site  of  that  town  midway  between  that  of  Ezion-gaber 
and  Mount  Hor,  as  its  intermediate  station  might  indi¬ 
cate,  still  a  line  from  east  to  west,  passing  through  it, 
would  touch  the  northern  point  of  the  Gulf  of  Suez,  on 
the  one  side  before  reaching  the  Nile,  and  that  of  the 
Persian  Gulf  upon  the  other,  where  the  Euphrates  enters 
it.  But,  situated  as  Kadesh  was,  to  the  south  of  Edom,* 
and  journeying,  as  Israel  did,  from  thence  at  the  com¬ 
mand  of  the  Lord,  by  the  way  of  the  Red  Sea,  through 
the  w'ay  of  the  plain  from  Elath,  and  from  Ezion-gaber 
on  the  Elanitic  Gulf  of  that  sea,  the  latter  town,  which 
was  a  port  of  Solomon’s,  may  rightfully  pertain  to  the 
kingdom  to  be  restored  to  Israel,  and  form  the  border 
of  the  inheritance,  or  the  bounds  by  which  they  were 
set.  And  within  such  bounds,  extending  in  all  the  lat¬ 
itude  which  the  Lord  has  given  them,  who  can  tell  how 
many  thousands  of  the  seed  of  Jacob  shall  find  ample 
space  in  the  five  portions  south  of  that  of  Judah,  when 
the  word  of  the  Lord  to  Abraham  shall  be  fulfilled,  and 
the  River  of  Egypt  to  the  great  sea,  and  the  River  Eu¬ 
phrates,  be  the  borders  of  the  inheritance  of  Israeli 

As  the  south  border  cannot  come  short  of  the  Red 
Sea,  by  which  the  Lord  hath  set  it,  so  neither,  in  pass¬ 
ing  from  the  east  side  to  the  west  side,  can  it  come 
short  of  the  west  bank  of  the  Euphrates. 

There  is  a  remarkable  coincidence  in  the  respective 
latitudes  of  the  northern  extremities  of  the  Red  Sea, 
and  of  the  Persian  Gulf,  into  which  the  Euphrates  flows. 
Suez  is  30°  10',  Ailah  29°  33',  on  the  shore  of  the  Elan¬ 
itic  Gulf.  The  Euphrates  enters  the  Persian  Gulf  in 
lat.  30°.* 

The  reader,  directing  his  eye  across  th^  map,  may 
thus  point  oat  for  himself  the  bounding  line  alopg  th© 
south  side  of  Israel’s  inheritance. 

*  Map  In  Ainsworth’s  Assyria. 


132 


THE  BOUNDARIES  OF 


Though  not  essential  to  our  subject,  the  remark  may 
here  be  pardonable,  that  while  upon  the  north  a  mount¬ 
ain  range,  rising  like  a  lofty  wall,  divides  the  inherit¬ 
ance  of  Israel  from  the  land  of  the  Gentiles,  and  sets  a 
most  conspicuous  barrier  between  them^  nothing  but  an 
ideal  line,  though  well  defined,  passes  along  the  open 
southern  frontier.  But,  unlike  the  other,  that  line  sep¬ 
arates  between  none  but  the  seed  of  Abraham  j  and  the 
Lord  has  not  placed  a  mountainous  barrier  or  any  other 
there.  The  covenant  has  respect  to  the  time  when 
Hagar’s  son  shall  be  brought  back  to  Abraham’s  house 
— the  hojsehold  of  the  faithful — though  not  to  Israel’s 
peculiar  heritage.  The  children  of  the  bondwoman,  in 
bondage  no  longer,  shall  rejoice  together  with  the  free. 
•Kedar  and  Nebaioth  were  sons  of  Ishmael.  And  con¬ 
cerning  Israel,  when  returned  unto  their  God,  and  to  the 
land  which  He  hath  given  them,  it  is  said,  “  Jill  the 
flocks  of  Kedar  shall  be  gathered  together  unto  thee,  the  rams 
of  JJebaioth  shall  minister  unto  thee  ;  they  shall  come  up 
with  acceptance  on  mine  altar,  and  I  will  glorify  the  house 
of  my  glory d’’*  When  the  promise  was  given  that  the 
everlasting  covenant  would  be  established  with  Isaac,  it 
was  not  in  vain  that  Abraham  prayed  unto  God  :  “  O  that 
Ishmael  may  live  before  thee !”  For  the  answer  was 
given,  “As  for  Ishmael,  I  have  heard  thee.  Behold,  I 
have  blessed  him,  and  will  make  him  fruitful,  and  will 
multiply  him  exceedingly  ;  twelve  princes  shall  he  beget, 
and  I  will  make  him  a  great  nation.”!  The  promise  of 
the  Lord  was  not  forgotten,  though  Hagar  and  her  son 
— types  of  their  descendants  through  many  ages — were 
cast  out  to  wander  in  the  wilderness.  The  Arabs  boast 
of  their  descent  from  Ishmael,  as  do  the  Israelites  ot 
theirs  from  Jacob.  Abraham  was  their  common  father  j 
and,  as  descended  from  him,  they  all  are  brethren. 
Hitherto  the  fate  of  the  Arab  has  been  strikingly  pro¬ 
phetic,  as  was  the  character  of  Ishmael,  as  given  by  the 
angel  of  the  Lord  before  his  birth — a  wild  man,  whose 
hand  was  against  every  man,  and  every  man’s  hand 
against  him.  But  the  prophetic  word  did  not  stop  with 
the  enunciation  of  the  character  of  his  wild  and  warlike 
race.  A  blessing  follows  it,  more  in  consonance  with 
the  blessing  of  the  Lord  on  Ishmael.  The  continued 

*  Isaiah,  lx.,  7.  t  Gen.,  xvii.,  20 


THE  PROMISED  LAND. 


133 


independence  of  his  descendants,  marked  as  it  has  been, 
instead  of  being,  as  heretofore  accounted,  the  sole  com¬ 
pletion  of  the  promise,  may  prove  but  secondary,  as  pre¬ 
paratory  to  its  full  accomplishment,  when  the  very 
words,  in  which  the  blessing  to  both  the  sons  of  Abra¬ 
ham  shall  themselves  tell,  in  the  simplicity  of  truth, 
their  full  significancy,  and  even  as  Israel’s  seed  shall 
possess  the  land,  Ishmael’s — their  wildness  and  their 
wanderings  ceased,  and  the  desert  itself  a  desert  no 
more — shall  dwell  in  th&  'presence  of  their  brethren.^  And 
thus  it  is,  we  may  warrantably  say,  that  on  the  south 
border,  where  they  meet,  there  is  no  barrier  between 
them — no  physical  obstacle  in  the  way,  when  all  moral 
obstacles  shall  be  removed,  to  hinder  the  flocks  of  Ne- 
baioth  and  of  Kedar  from  going  freely — without  either 
a  mountain  range  or  a  stream  to  be  passed,  as  on  the 
other  sides — as  an  offering  unto  the  Lord,  into  the  land 
of  Israel.  That  the  brotherly  covenant  was  broken  be¬ 
tween  Jacob  and  Esau,  the  desolation  of  Edom  shall  tell 
forever.  But  that  it  never  was  broken  between  Isaac  and 
Ishmael,  the  free  ingress  and  egress  to  each  other’s 
lands  may  be  as  enduring  a  memorial. 

When  Abraham  dwelt  in  Mesopotamia,  God  said  unto 
him.  Get  thee  into  a  land  that  I  will  show  thee.  He  heard, 
believed,  and  went.  When  Isaac’s  name,  a  year  before 
his  birth,  was  told  him  by  the  Lord,  and  the  promise 
made  with  him.,  the  pitying  father  pled  for  the  son  he 
already  had,  and  whom  he  loved :  and  Ishmael  too  was 
blessed;  the  prayer  was  heard  that  he  might  live  before 
the  Lord.  Abraham,  in  sending  Hagar  away,  took  bread 
and  a  bottle  of  water,  and  put  it  on  her  shoulder.  Thus 
she  departed,  and  going  southward,  wandered  in  the  wil¬ 
derness  of  Beer-sheba.f  Her  seed,  according  to  the 
word  of  the  angel,  has  multiplied  exceedingly,  that  it 
ctljfUnot  be  numbered  for  multitude. J  Abraham  himself 
individually  has  a  blessing  in  the  covenant,  distinct  from 
the  promise  of  the  inheritance  to  his  seed  ;  and  spirit¬ 
ual  blessings,  not  limited  to  any  race,  but  branching 
forth  in  rich  fruitfulness  to  all,  are  also  involved  in  it, 
as  they  formed  its  final  end.  Of  these  it  is  not  our 
present  province  to  speak.  But,  standing  on  the  south¬ 
ern  portion  of  Israel,  between  the  families  of  Abraham’s 

•*  Gen.,  xvi.,  12.  t  Gen.,  xxi.,  14.  t  Ibid.,  xvi.,  10. 

M  , 


134 


THE  BOUNDARIES  OF 


two  sons,  as  they  shall  yet  be  seen  by  a  world  blessed 
in  the  seed  of  Isaac,  who  so  blind  as  not  to  perceive 
how  rich  is  the  promise  to  faith  and  the  answer  to 
prayer  1  The  River  of  Egypt  to  the  sea,  its  shores  to 
the  entrance  into  Hamath,  the  Amanian  Mountains  ri¬ 
sing  like  a  wall,  and  extending  from  the  Mediterranean 
to  the  Euphrates,  that  great  river,  the  Persian  Gulf,  into 
which  it  flows,  the  Arabian  Sea,  and  the  Red  Sea,  en¬ 
close  the  united  territory  of  the  two  sons  of  Abraham, 
which  forms  no  mean  part  of  the  habitable  globe.  No 
region  can  be  more  definitely  marked  than  that  which 
thus  pertains,  by  covenanted  title,  to  the  seed  of  Isaac, 
and  that  which  pertains  in  actual  possession,  as  Arabia 
does,  to  the  seed  of  Ishmael. 

SECTION  V. 

THE  EAST  BORDER. 

The  only  question  farther  to  be  resolved  respecting 
the  borders  of  the  promised  land,  is  that  concerning  the 
respective  boundaries  on  the,  east  of  these  two  families 
of  Abraham. 

Were  the  northern  and  southern  borders  of  Israel  tru¬ 
ly  ascertained,  those  on  the  east,  like  those  on  the  west, 
formed  not  of  land,  but  of  water,  either  a  great  river  or 
the  sea,  would  be  easily  determined. 

The  heritage  of  Jacob,  as  oft  repeated  in  the  original 
covenant,  extends  from  the  River  of  Egypt  to  the  Eu¬ 
phrates,  and  also,  on  the  north,  from  the  Euphrates  to 
the  uttermost  sea.  That  great  river  from  Berothah,  or 
the  extremity  of  the  land  in  which  it  stands,  necessari¬ 
ly  forms  the  boundary  on  the  east.  This  is  not  only  ex¬ 
pressed  in  the  promise,  but  has  been  manifested  in  fact. 
David,  whose  throne  shall  be  established  forever,  re¬ 
covered  the  borders,  of  his  kingdom  on  the  Euphrates ; 
and  Solomon,  who  also  reigned  over  all  Israel,  maintain¬ 
ed  a  supremacy  and  sovereignty  over  all  the  kings  on 
the  east  of  the  Euphrates.  If  the  heart  of  that  mon¬ 
arch,  who  once  was  wise,  because  in  faith  he  asked  for 
wisdom,  had  been  steadfast  in  the  covenant,  and  had 
not  departed  from  the  Lord,  his  kingdom  would  not 
have  been  rent  in  the  hands  of  his  son,  as  was  the  gar¬ 
ment  of  Jeroboam  by  the  prophet  of  the  Lord.  But 


THE  PROMISED  LAND. 


135 


from  his  history,  and  that  of  his  father  David,  it  plainly 
appears,  that  whenever  a  gleam  of  hope  broke  in  upon 
the  dark  and  evil  days  that  summed  up  the  history  of 
an  else  rebellious  race,  in  which  the  covenant  was  shroud¬ 
ed  from  view,  no  other  borders  were  recognised  by  these 
two  kings,  who  alone  reigned  in  Jerusalem  over  all  Is¬ 
rael,  than  the  Lord  had  assigned,  whether  from  the  shores 
of  the  Red  Sea^to  the  entrance  into  Hamath,  or  from 
the  River  of  Egypt  to  the  Euphrates;  and  they  rested 
not  from  maintaining  their  dominion  till  all  the  kings  on 
that  side  of  the  Euphrates  owned  their  sovereignty. 

The  east  border  necessarily  commences  where  it  first 
comes  in  contact  with  the  north  on  that  river,  and  it 
can  terminate  only  at  the  eastern  extremity  of  the  south 
border.  How  far  it  ascended  the  Euphrates  we  have 
already  seen  ;  and  its  point  of  contact  with  that  of  the 
south  alone  remains  to  be  shown. 

Let  a  line  be  drawn  from  the  Nile  in  a  straight  line, 
east  and  west,  setting  the  bounds  by  the  Red  Sea,  and  it 
will  be  apparent  that,  whether  the  Gulf  of  Suez,  or  the 
Elanitic  Gulf,  be  only  touched,  the  southeastern  border 
of  the  land  of  promise  is  not  reached  till  the  Euphrates 
pours  its  streams  into  the  Persian  Gulf. 

After  describing  the  north  border,  Ezekiel  adds,  ^nd 
the  east  side  ye  shall  measure  from  Hauran,  and  from  Da¬ 
mascus,  and  from  Gilead,  and  from  the  land  of  Israel  by 
Jordan,  from  the  border  to  the  east  sea.  Jlnd  this  is 
the  east  side. 

It  is  too  late,  we  trust,  to  tell  the  reader,  as  comment¬ 
ators  of  great  name  have  said,  that  the  east  sea  is  the 
Dead  Sea,  because  it  lies  to  the  east  of  Jerusalem. 
Were  there  any  truth  in  this,  the  previous  pages  would 
be  the  record  of  a  dream,  and  “  the  breadth  of  Imman¬ 
uel’s  land,”  instead  of  a  thousand,  would  be  restricted, 
at  the  utmost,  to  sixty  miles;  and  skeptics  might  still 
scoff  at  the  diminutive  inheritance.  But  in  the  record 
concerning  the  borders  of  the  land,  as  anciently  pos¬ 
sessed,  the  Dead  Sea  is  unquestionably  mentioned  un¬ 
der  its  proper  scriptural  name  of  the  Salt  Sea  ^  and 
though  on  its  northern  extremity  it  did  lie  to  the  east 
of  Jerusalem,  it  is  nowhere  in  Scripture  denominated 
the  east  sea.  Even  at  the  time  when  it  formed,  on  the 
extreme  south,  the  southern  border  of  Judah,  instead 


136 


THE  BOUNDARIES  OF 


of  beino-  the  east  side,  two  tribes  and  a  half  of  Israel  had 

O  7 

their  wide  portions  wholly  to  the  eastward  of  it,  and  of 
the  Jordan  which  flowed  into  it,  not  from  the  west, 
but  from  the  north.  And  whatever  was  its  relative  po¬ 
sition  to  Jerusalem,  it  never  had  a  natne  from  hence ; 
and  if  it  had,  yet  from  the  Hauran,  and  the  land  of  Is¬ 
rael  by  Jordan,  which,  even  in  ancient  days,  reached  of 
right  to  the  Euphrates,  the  Dead  Sea  Jay  to  the  west, 
and  not  to  the  east.  From  the  Hauran^  and  Damascus^ 
and  from  Gilead^  and  the  land  of  Israel  by  {beyond)  Jordan, 
all  the  land,  according  to  the  covenant,  and  to  the  do¬ 
minion  of  David  and  Solomon,  pertained  to  Israel  on 
that  side  the  Euphrates.  And,  according  to  the  pro¬ 
phetic  definition  given  by  Ezekiel  of  the  east  side  in  all 
its  length,  from  the  border  (the  north  border,  which  he 
had  immediately  before  specified)  to  the  east  sea,  the  east 
side  and  the  south  side  thus  terminated  in  the  same  sea, 
the  Persian  Gulf,  which  is  worthy  of  the  name,  for  where 
the  Euphrates  enters  it,  it  is  far  wider  than  the  Red  Sea. 

As  the  west  side  is  marked /row  the  border  till  a  man 
come  over  against  Hamath,  or,  as  otherwise  defined,  to 
the  entrance  into  Hamath,  and  the  extreme  breadth  of 
the  northern  boundary  from  the  River  Euphrates  to  the 
uttermost  sea,  and  the  whole  breadth  of  the  land  where 
widest  in  its  southern  region,  from  the  River  of  Egypt 
to  the  great  River  Euphrates,  so,  as  alone  wanting  to 
determine  the  length  of  all  the  borders,  that  on  the  east 
is  defined,  in  all  its  extent, /row  the  border  to  the  east  sea. 

The  east  sea  is  here  represented  as  the  terminating 
point,  on  the  extreme  south,  of  the  east  border,  precise¬ 
ly  as  the  entrance  into  Hamath,  or  the  mountains  which 
bound  it,  forms  the  termination  of  the  western  border 
on  the  north.  A  corresponding  definition  is  thus  given 
of  both  sides  of  the  land  :  in  the  one  case,  from  the 
border  on  the  south  to  the  entrance  into  Hamath  ;  and, 
on  the  other, /row.  the  border  on  the  north  to  the  east  sea. 

When  “the  tenants”  of  the  rock  in  Kedar’s  wilder¬ 
ness  afar  shall  sing  the  praises  of  Israel’s  God,  and  go, 
like  men  from  all  nations  of  the  earth,  with  their  offer¬ 
ings  to  Jerusalem,  to  worship  there  ;  and  when  fountains 
shall  spring  up  in  the  desert,  and  the  thirsty  land  be 
as  a  pool  of  water,  the  sons  of  Ishmael — though,  like 
that  at  which  Hagar  sat,  they  can  now  count  every  well 


THE  PROMISED  LAND. 


137 


of  the  desert  their  own — will  not  then,  as  did  Lot’s  ser¬ 
vants  with  Abraham’s,  dispute  with  the  restored  and  re¬ 
deemed  sons  of  Jacob  about  a  well  or  a  border. 

The  borders  which  the  Lord  hath  set  are  such  that 
they  cannot  fail  to  be  finally  recognised  by  all  the  sons 
of  Adam,  as  well  as  by  the  descendants  of  Abraham. 
If  a  question  should  arise  respecting  their  limits,  it 
could  only  be  with  Assyria  or  Egypt — how  far  they 
might  extend  on  the  Euphrates,  or  penetrate  into  the 
land  of  the  Pharaohs,  if  the  term  were  questionable,  on 
the  River  of  Egypt.  But  higher  destinies  than  those 
even  of  such  renowned  kingdoms,  in  all  their  ancient 
power  and  pre-eminence  among  nations,  are  resolved 
in  the  allotment  of  the  territorial  patrimony  of  the  seed 
of  Jacob.  And  the  Lord  their  God,  who  gave  the  land 
unto  them  for  an  everlasting  possession,  has  secured  it 
against  the  interference  of  another  Sennacherib,  or  Neb¬ 
uchadnezzar,  or  Pharaoh.  The  time  is  yet  to  come  of 
which  it  is  said,  “In  that  day  shall  there  be  a  highway 
out  of  Egypt  to  Assyria,  and  the  Assyrian  shall  come 
into  Egypt,  and  the  Egyptian  into  Assyria;  and  the 
Egyptians  shall  serve  with  the  Assyrians.  In  that  day 
shall  Israel  be  the  third  with  Egypt  and  with  Assyria, 
even  a  blessing  in  the  midst  of  the  land  (or  the  earth); 
whom  the  Lord  of  Hosts  shall  bless,  saying,  Blessed  be 
Egypt  my  people,  and  Assyria  the  work  of  my  hands, 
and  Israel  mine  inheritance.”* 

In  the  beginning  of  their  history  the  Israelites  were 
slaves  in  Egypt,  as  their  fathers  had  been  strangers  in 
the  land  of  promise.  In  after  ages,  the  kingdom  of  Is¬ 
rael,  as  distinct  from  that  of  Judah,  was  destroyed  by 
the  hosts  of  the  King  of  Assyria,  and  ever  since  the  ten 
tribes  have  been  the  outcasts  of  Israel.  In  later  times, 
prior  to  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem  and  the  dispersion 
of  the  Jews,  the  Assyrians  and  Egyptians  alternately 
tyrannized  over  them  generation  after  generation  :  and 
in  their  past  history  the  prediction  has  been  reversed 
rather  than  realized.  But  it  looked  forward  to  the  time 
when  Israel  shall  be  the  inheritance  of  the  Lord,  and 
their  land  shall  be  the  undisputed  inheritance  of  Israel ; 
when,  no  longer  trampled  on,  or  held  in  servile  bond- 

*  Isaiah,  xix.,  23-25, 

M  2 


133 


THE  BOUNDARIES  OF 


age  and  slavish  fear,  those  whom  they  served  shall 
serve  them,  and  they  shall  be  a  blessing  to  those  who 
were  a  curse  to  them.  That  subject  has  not  to  be  touch¬ 
ed  on  here,  but  merely  as  connected  with  the  allotted 
territory  to  be  held  without  controversy  as  their  own. 
But  it  may  be  seen  that,  while  widely  distant  bounds 
mark  out  the  inheritance  which  the  Lord  has  given 
them,  their  authority  shall  pass  these  borders,  and  that 
the  inhabitants  of  the  once  mighty  kingdoms  which  en¬ 
vironed  their  land  and  made  it  alternately  their  prey, 
shall  honour  them  as  a  people  greatly  blessed  of  the 
Lord ;  and  Egypt  and  Assyria,  united  to  it  as  to  a  cen¬ 
tral  body,  shall  spread  out  on  each  side,  in  blessedness 
and  beauty,  as  the  wings  of  that  land  which  was  given 
by  the  covenant  of  the  Lord  to  the  seed  of  Abraham,  of 
Isaac,  and  of  Jacob. 

The  reader,  if  hitherto  accustomed  to  the  dark  and 
narrow  antiquarian  tract,  may  be  startled  at  the  sight  of 
so  extensive  regions  opening  at  once  to  his  view,  as 
pertaining  to  Israel,  though  stretching  so  far  beyond 
the  bounds  of  the  land  ever  possessed  under  the  law. 
But  it  is  to  be  remembered  that  it  is  the  lot  of  thq  Lord’s 
inheritance,  to  which  He  has  appointed  such  borders ; 
and  that  it  is  as  such  that  Egypt  and  Assyria,  as  its  trib¬ 
utary  states,  shall  be  blessed,,  and  Arabia  be  “  the  happy” 
(Arabia  Felix),  when  its  own  people  shall  dwell  within 
it,  in  presence  of  all  their  brethren,  the  children  of  Is¬ 
rael. 

In  respect  to  their  own  land,  according  to  the  cov¬ 
enant  with  their  fathers,  it  is  not  to  be  forgotten  that 
great,  in  the  extent  as  well  as  duration  of  the  blessings 
that  can  be  realized  under  them,  is  the  difference  be¬ 
tween  the  law  and  the  Gospel — between  what  even  a 
chosen  people  ever  could  secure  on  the  ground  of  their 
merit,  or  their  own  performance  of  the  conditions  of  a 
legal  covenant,  and  that  which  God  freely  gives  to  his 
believing,  and,  therefore,  obedient  children,  who  receive 
the  blessings  as  all  of  promise,  according  to  the  word  of 
the  Lord  at  the  beginning,  “  To  thee  have  I  given  this 
land  and  to  thy  seed  forever,  from  the  River  of  Egypt 
to  the  great  River  Euphrates.” 

Wherever  there  is  any  faith  in  God’s  promises  or  in 
his  word,  it  cannot  but  be  conceded  that  it  is  not  a  lit- 


THE  PROMISED  LAND. 


139 


th  land  which  the  Lord  of  the  whole  earth  hath  called 
large^  and  that  there  is  a  difference,  and  a  great  one  too, 
between  the  borders  which  bounded  Palestine  of  old, 
and  the  whole  land  which  was  the  bequest  of  the  Lord 
to  the  seed  of  Jacob.  For  when  the  borders  of  the 
former  were  set,  where  they  ever  after  stood,  the  Lord 
himself  said.  There  yet  remaineth  very  much  land  to  be  pos¬ 
sessed. 

How  very  much  difference  there  really  was  between 
Palestine,  as  occupied  by  the  Israelites,  and  all  the  prom¬ 
ised  LAND,  as  worthy  of  the  name,  and  how  the  land  is 
truly  large,  as  the  Lord  hath  spoken  the  word,  the  dif¬ 
ference  of  latitude  and  longitude  between  the  borders 
on  the  various  sides  may  enable  the  reader  at  once  to 
determine. 

The  latitude  of  Beersheba  is  31°  15' ;  of  Dan,  33°  15''  j 
the  difference,  tvjp  degrees.  The  south  point  of  the 
Dead  Sea,  the  ancient  border  of  Israel,  is  31°  7',  in  the 
same  longitude  with  Dan,  the  intervening  distance,  in 
a  line  from  north  to  south,  being  128  geographical,  or 
about  150  English  miles. 

The  latitude  of  the  north  point  of  the  Elanitic  Gulf 
of  the  Red  Sea,  on  which  Ezion-gaber,  a  port  of  Solo¬ 
mon’s,  stood,  is  29°  31'.  The  mouth  of  the  Orontes,  or 
the  entrance  into  Hamath  from  the  Mediterranean,  is 
36°,  and  that  of  Beer,  or  Berothah,  on  the  Euphrates, 
37°.  But  the  range  of  Amanus  lies  beyond  it,  and  the 
medium  longitude  of  the  north  boundary  is  more  than 
36°  3r  N.,  or,  in  an  ideal  line  from  south  to  north,  the 
length  of  the  land  is  upward  of  seven  degrees,  or  five 
hundred  miles,  instead  of  a  hundred  and  fifty,  as  of  old. 

But  “the  breadth  of  Immanuel’s  land,”  instead  of  be¬ 
ing  contracted  to  a  span,  is  still  miore  w'orthy  of  the 
name,  and  it  stops  not  short  of  a  navigable  frontier  ev¬ 
erywhere  and  on  every  side.  The  longitude  of  the  Nile 
is  30°  2' ;  that  of  the  Euphrates,  as  it  flows  through  the 
Persian  Gulf,  48°  26',  or  a  difference  of  nearly  eighteen 
degrees  and  a  half,  or  more  than  eleven  hundred  miles. 
So  large  is  the  space  comprehended,  along  the  south¬ 
ern  frontier,  from  the  River  of  Egypt  to  the  River  Eu¬ 
phrates,  from  the  east  side  to  the  west  side,  or  in  the 
same  latitude. 

On  the  northern  extremity  of  the  land,  the  range  of 


140 


THE  BOUNDARIES  OF 


Amanus,  from  the  River  Euphrates  to  the  uttermost  sea, 
or  extremity  of  the  Mediterranean,  scarcely  exceeds 
one  hundred  miles.  In  round  numbers,  the  average 
breadth  of  the  promised  land  would  thus  be  six  hundred 
miles,  which,  multiplied  by  its  length,  five  hundred, 
gives  an  area  of  300,000  square  miles,  or  more  than  that 
of  any  kingdom  or  empire  of  Europe,  Russia  alone  ex¬ 
cepted.  The  jesting  Frenchman  is  brought  down  from 
his  boasting  when  it  is  seen  that  a  region  half  the  ex¬ 
tent  of  France  would  need  to  be  added  to  its  size,  be¬ 
fore  the  land  of  “  the  great  nation”  would  equal,  in  su¬ 
perficial  extent,  that  land  which  the  Lord  gave  to  the 
seed  of  Israel.  It  exceeds,  in  the  aggregate  amount  of 
square  miles,  the  territories  of  ten  kingdoms  of  Europe, 
Prussia,  Belgium,  the  Netherlands,  Bavaria,  Saxony, 
Hanover,  Wirtemberg,  Denmark,  Sardinia,  and  Greece, 
and  its  relative  proportion  to  Great  Jgitain  and  Ireland 
is  300  to  118,  or  more  than  two  and  a  half  to  one. 
Were  the  average  breadth  to  be  reckoned  at  500,  in¬ 
stead  of  the  medium,  600  miles,  which,  from  the  ir>e- 
quality  of  the  sides,  may  be  nearer  the  truth,  the  super¬ 
ficial  extent  of  the  promised  land  alone  would  still  ex¬ 
ceed  that  of  the  largest  kingdom  of  Europe. 

But  Israel,  extensive  as  are  its  bounds,  is  not  des¬ 
tined  to  stand  alone.  Its  mightiest  adversaries  of  old 
shall  be  its  servants.  No  prince  but  of  Israel  shall  rule 
in  Egypt  or  Assyria.  The  former  country  will  add  to 
Israel’s  dominion,  or  subservient  domain,  an  area  of 
15U,000  square  miles.  The  latter,  including  Mesopota¬ 
mia,  and  “  stretching  beyond  the  Tigris  as  far  as  the 
mountains  of  Media,”*  and  from  the  mountains  of  Ar¬ 
menia  to  the  Persian  Gulf,  leaves  no  region  that  shall 
not  own  immediate  fealty  to  the  kingdom  of  Israel, 
from  the  eastern  shores  of  the  Mediterranean  to  the 
borders  of  Persia  and  the  vicinity  of  the  Caspian.  Such 
is  the  power  of  the  word  of  the  living  God  ;  such  the 
liberality  of  his  gifts  to  the  people  whom  He  chose, 
were  they  his  own  by  another  covenant  than  that  which’ 
they  have  broken  ;  and  such,  in  topographical  relations 
alone,  is  the  provision  that  is  made,  as  thus  revealed, 
for  the  completion  of  the  promise,  that  Israel  shall  final¬ 
ly  be  a  blessing  in  the  midst  of  the  earth.  Thus  saith 

*  Gibbon’s  Hist.,  vol.  iv.,  p.  166. 


THE  PROMISED  LAND. 


141 


the  Lord,  “  It  shall  be  to  me  a  name  of  joy,  a  praise 
and  an  honour  before  all  the  nations  of  the  earth,  which 
'shall  hear  all  the  good  that  I  do  unto  them  ;  and  they 
shall  fear  and  tremble  for  all  the  goodness  and  for  all 
the  prosperity  that  I  procure  unto  it.”* 

There  is  a  striking  analogy  between  the  word  and  the 

o  cr  v 

works  of  God,  ever  traceable  by  those  who  search  the 
Scriptures  and  regard  the  operation  of  his  hands.  But 
the  one  and  tlie  other  seem  here  strikingly  to  cohere. 
The  Lord  hath  given  the  earth  to  the  sons  of  men,  as 
He  hath  set  the  bounds  of  their  habitation.  But  He 
formed  Israel  for  his  glory,  and  chose  them  as  his  pe¬ 
culiar  people  5  and  peculiar,  too,  is  the  land  which  He 
assigned  them,  even  as  respects  its  borders.  The  Med¬ 
iterranean,  the  Red  Sea,  and  the  Persian  Gulf,  form  on 
the  west,  the  south,  and  the  east,  borders  of  a  land 
which,  but  for  th«se  inland,  seas,  would  be  wholly  en¬ 
circled  by  Asia,  Africa,  and  Europe,  and  shut  out  from 
all  direct  communication  with  the  Pacific  and  Atlantic, 
and  the  lesser  oceans  of  the  globe.  Tiie  River  of  Egypt 
to  the  Mediterranean,  and  that  sea  from  the  mouth  of 
the  Nile  to  the  estuary  of  the  Orontes,  and  the  Euphra- ' 
tes  from  the  foot  of  Arnanus  to  the  Persian  Gulf,  leave 
not  the  smallest  portion  of  the  west  side,  or  of  the  east 
side,  that  is  not  actually  or  virtually  a  navigable  coast 
to  the  extent  on  both  sides  of  two  thousand  miles  j 
while  on  the  north,  the  intermediate  barrier  of  Arnanus, 
at  the  breadth  of  less  than  one  hundred,  renders  the 
land  a  garden  enclosed.  The  hand  of  the  Lord,  who 
hath  laid  the  foundations  of  the  earth,  and  made  the  sea, 
and  the  dry  land,  is  in  all  this;  and  here,  though  not 
here  alone.  He  has  magnified  his  word  above  all  his 
name.  The  first  glance  at  the  borders  of  Israel,  when 
they  are  looked  at  in  the  latitude  assigned  them  by  a 
divine  and  irrepealable  decree,  may  show  that  they 
were  set  in  subserviency  to  the  final  end,  as  declared, 
from  the  beginning,  to  be  accomplished  by  the  Lord, 
for  which  Israel  was  set  apart  from  the  nations,  and 
not  numbered  among  them,  so  that,  as  assuredly  as 
their  covenanted  land  shall  be  their  everlasting  possession^ 
all  the  families  of  the  earth  shall  be  blessed  in  the  seed 
of  Jacob.  Seoarated  as  Israel  is  from  other  lands,  such 

*  Jer.,  xxxiii.,  9. 


142 


ANCIENT  POPULOUSNESS  OF 


are  its  borders,  that  it  has  unequalled  freedom  of  access 
to  all. 

But,  without  here  entering  on  such  a  theme,  it  be-' 
hooves  us  first  to  consider  how  the  land  \s  goodly  as  well 
as  laro^e  ;  and  how,  notwithstandinor  all  the  curses  that 
have  come  upon  it,  it  is  still  fitted  for  becoming,  as  de¬ 
scribed  in  Scripture,  a  pleasant,  delightsome,  goodly, 
and  glorious  land,  “the  glory  of  all  lands,”  the  heritage 
of  a  people  greatly  blessed  of  the  Lord. 


CHAPTER  III. 

NATURAL  FERTILITY  AND  ANCIENT  POPULOUSNESS  OF  THE 

LAND  OF  ISRAEL. 

Ere  ever  the  Israelites  had  entered  on  the  possession 
of  any  portion  of  their  inheritance,  Moses  declared  unto 
them,  The  Lord  thy  God  hringeth  thee  into  a  good  land ; 
(gjz  land  of  brooks  of  water ^  of  fountains^  and  depths  that 
spring  out  of  valleys  and  hills  /  a  land  of  wheats  and  bar¬ 
ley^  and  vines^  and  fig-trees^  and  pomegranates  ;  a  land  of 
oil-olive  and  honey  ;  a  land  wherein  thou  shalt  eat  bread 
without  scarceness^  thou  shalt  not  lack  any  thing  in  it ;  a 
land  whose  stones  are  iron^  and  out  of  whose  hills  thou  may- 
est  dig  brass  *  The  land  whither  ye  go  to  possess  it,  is  a 
land  of  hills  and  valleys,  and  drinketh  water  of  the  rain  of 
heaven  ;  a  land  which  the  Lord  thy  God  careth  for :  the 
eyes  of  the  Lord  thy  God  are  always  upon  it,  from  the  begin¬ 
ning  of  the  year  even  unto  the  end  of  the  year.\  And  it  is 
otherwise  described  as  a  land  of  corn  and  wine,  a  land  of 
bread  and  vineyards,  a  land  of  oil-olive  and  of  honey. %  I 
chose  Israel ;  /  lifted  up  mine  hand  unto  them,  to  bring 
them  forth  of  the  land  of  Egypt  into  a  land  that  I  had  espi¬ 
ed  for  them,  flowing  with  milk  ofid  honey,  which  is  the  glo¬ 
ry  of  all  lands. § 

When  the  Israelites  first  entered  into  their  promised 
possession,  before  passing  the  Jordan,  numerous  were 
the  cities  and  vast  the  spoil  that  fell  at  once  into  their 


*  Deut.,  viii.,  7-9. 
t  2  Kings,  xviii.,  32. 


t  Ibid.,  xi.,  11,  12. 
()  Ezek.,  XX.,  6. 


THE  PROMISED  LAND. 


14^5 


hands,  in  the  day  when  the  Lord  began  to  put  the  dread 
of  them  upon  the  nations  that  are  under  the  whole  heav¬ 
en,  who  should  hear  the  report  of  them,  and  tremble 
and  be  in  anguish  because  of  them.  When  the  iniquity 
of  the  Amorites  was  full,  and  all  in  Israel  above  twenty 
years  old,  who  had  come  out  of  Egypt,  and  had  tres¬ 
passed  in  the  wilderness,  had  been  buried  there,  it  was 
given  them  to  know  that  the  Lord,  though  he  would  not 
clear  the  guilty,  remembered  his  covenant  with  their 
fathers  ;  the  promise  that  had  seemed  to  linger  was 
about  to  be  fulfilled ;  the  word  came  from  the  Lord  that 
they  had  compassed  Mount  Seir  long  enough,  and  they 
were  commanded  to  turn  northward  and  to  begin  to  pos¬ 
sess^  that  they  might  inherit  the  land.  They  entered  it 
not  like  a  colony  taking  possession  of  an  uncultivated, 
unpeopled,  and  defenceless  region.  But  the  Lord  gave 
them  a  land  for  which  they  did  not  labour,  and  cities  • 
which  they  built  not  they  dwelt  in;  of  the  vineyards 
and  oliveyards  which  they  planted  not,  did  they  eat.* 
Sihon,  king  of  the  Amorites,  and  all  his  people,  came 
out  against  them  to  fight  at  Jahaz.  But  the  Lord  de¬ 
livered  him  unto  them  ;  and  they  took  all  his  cities,  and 
dispeopled  his  kingdom  of  its  former  inhabitants,  and 
took  the  cattle  and  all  the  spoil  of  the  cities  for  a  prey 
Og,  king  of  Bashan,  came  out  against  them,  he  and  all 
his  people,  to  battle  at  Edrei^  and  shared  the  fate  of  the 
other  Amoritish  king.  They  took  all  his  cities  at  that 
time :  there  was  not  a  city  which  they  took  not  from 
them,  threescore  cities,  all  the  region  of  Argob,  the 
kingdom  of  Og  in  Bashan.  .  All  these  cities  were  fen¬ 
ced  with  high  walls,  gates,  and  bars ;  besides  unwalled 
towns  a  great  many.f  All  the  cities  were  taken  at  that 
time  from  the  River  of  Arnon  unto  Mount  Hermon^  all 
the  cities  of  the  plain,  and  all  Gilead^  and  all  Bashan^ 
unto  Salach,  and  Edrei^  cities  of  the  kingdom  of  Og  in 
Bashan.  All  the  cattle,  and  all  the  spoil  of  the  cities, 
they  took  for  a  prey  to  themselves.J 

The  Midianites,  too,  fought  against  Israel ;  and  the 
Lord  was  avenged  of  Midian.  All  the  cities  wherein 
they  dwelt,  and  all  their  goodly  castles,  were  burned 
with  fire.  But  the  first  settlement  of  Israel  was  not 

*  Deut.,  vi.,  11.  Josh.,  xxiv.,  13.  t  Numb.,  xxi.,  23-26. 

t  Numb.,  xxi.,  33-35  Dout.,  iii.,  3-10. 


t 


ha  ANCIENT  POPULOUSNESS  OP 

there  ;  and  the  sum  of  the  prey  was  taken,  and  it  was 
apportioned  in  Israel— six  hundred  and  seventy-five 
thousand  sheep,  seventy-two  thousand  beeves,  and  six¬ 
ty-one  thousand  asses.*  It  was  not  by  their  sword  or 
by  their  bow  that  the  Israelites  triumphed.  One  thou¬ 
sand  men  only  were  chosen  out  of  each  tribe  to  fight 
against  the  Midianites  and  to  destroy  them  utterly.  On 
enumerating,  after  their  return,  the  sum  of  the  men  of 
war  who  had  gone  forth  to  battle,  there  lacked  not  one 
man  ;  whereupon  the  captains  of  thousands  and  captains 
of  hundreds  brought  unto  Moses  an  oblation  .to  the 
Lord  of  wrought  gold,  taken  of  the  spoil,  sixteen  thou¬ 
sand  seven  hundred  and  fifty  shekels. f 

The  numerous  walled  cities  and  towns  of  Bashan  and 
Gilead  manifestly  imply  the  high  fertility  of  these  re¬ 
gions;  and  the  claim  that  was  speedily  urged  for  the 
possession  of  the  conquered  territory,  shows  that  Is¬ 
rael  had  already  entered,  as  their  own,  on  a  rich  pastoral 
inheritance.  The  tribes  of  Reuben  and  Gad  had  a  very 
great  multitude  of  cattle,  and  they  besought  Moses  and 
all  the  princes  of  the  congregation  to  give  them  the  land 
of  Jazer  and  the  land  of  Gilead,  for  the  place  was  a 
place  for  cattle. J  From  Aroer,  which  is  by  the  River 
Arnon,  and  the  border  unto  the  brook  Jabbock,  which 
is  the  border  of  the  children  of  Ammon,  the  plain  also, 
and  Jordan  and  the  coast  thereof,  and  half  Mount  Gil¬ 
ead  and  the  cities  thereof,  were  given  to  the  Reuben- 
ites  and  Gadites;  and  all  the  region  of  Argob,  and  all 
Bashan,  with  its  threescore  cities,  were  given  to  the 
half  tribe  of  Manasseh.§  The  territories  then  possess¬ 
ed  by  the  Moabites  and  Ammonites,  together  with  the 
land  of  Edom,  were  at  that  time  excluded  from  the 
patrimony  of  Israel.  But,  exclusive  of  these,  the  two 
tribes  and  a  half  had,  as  implied  in  Scripture,  and  as 
will  afterward  be  more  fully  shown,  a  “  goodly  heritage.” 
Like  the  tribes  who  possessed  them,  and  like  their  kin¬ 
dred  “  outcasts  of  Israel,”  Gilead  and  Bashan  have  long 
been  forgotten  but  in  name.  The  time  then  was,  when, 
beyond  the  Jordan,  the  faithful  testimony  was  wrung 
from  Balaam,  “How  goodly  are  thy  tents,  O  Jacob,  and 
thy  tabernacles,  O  Israel;”  but,  scattered  as  the  He- 


*  Numb.,  xxxi.,  33-34. 
t  Ibid.,  xxxii.,  1-4. 


t  Ibid.,  xxxi.,  10,  32-34,  48-52. 

^  Ibid.,  xxxii.,  33.  Josh.,  xiii.,  9-31. 


THE  PROMISED  LAND. 


145 


brews  are  throughout  the  world,  that  testimony  is  pro¬ 
phetic  still,  which,  on  their  return,  Gilead  and  Bashan 
have  yet  to  confirm. 

After  the  people  had  multiplied  in  the  land,  the  sons 
of  Reuben  spread  their  flocks  from  the  entering  in  of 
the  wilderness  from  the  River  Euphrates,  because  their 
cattle  were  multiplied  in  the  land  of  Gilead.  Confed¬ 
erate  with  the  Gadites  and  the  Manassites,  they  made 
war  with  the  Hagarites,  and  sent  forth  against  them 
alone  forty-four  thousand  valiant  men,  skilful  in  war. 
Not  trusting  alone  to  their  skill  or  their  strength,  they 
cried  to  God  in  the  battle,  and  prevailed.  Fifty  thou¬ 
sand  camels,  two  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  sheep,  and 
two  thousand  asses  became  the  prey,  while  a  hundred 
thousand  men  were  the  prisoners  of  the  victors  j  and, 
enlarging  their  border  still  farther  within  the  promised 
bounds,  they  dwelt  in  their  stead.*  Neither  a  sterile 
land,  nor  stinted  limits,  though  only  partially  possessed 
of  old,  were  from  the  beginning  thus  assigned  to  the 
Israelitish  occupants  of  the  regions  beyond  Jordan, 
which  have  long  been  lost  sight  of,  and  for  many  ages 
have  been  all  but  blotted  out  from  the  memory  of  man. 
The  time  seems  to  be  coming  when  these  lands  shall 
rise  anew  into  an  estimation  befitting  no  mean  portion 
of  the  inheritance  of  Israel,  and  becoming  Christians  to 
cherish,  who  believe  the  scriptural  record  concerning 
them  of' times  long  past,  and  look  for  their  returning, 
because  promised  “  glory”  in  that  day — it  may  be  not 
distant  now — when  the  flock  of  the  Lord’s  heritage, 
which  he  has  long  fed  with  the  rod,  shall  feed  in  Bashan 
and  in  Gilead  as  in  the  days  of  old.  And  the  Lord  will 
show  unto  him  marvellous  things,  according  to  his  com¬ 
ing  out  of  the  land  of  Egypt,  and  the  nations  shall  see, 
and  be  confounded  at  all  their  might. f 

From  a  mountain  east  of  Bethel  Abraham  looked  east¬ 
ward  across  the  valley  of  Jordan,  on  the  hills  of  Gilead 
and  Bashan,  while  on  every  side  around  him  lay  the 
land  of  Canaan,  within  the  boundaries  of  which  he  then 
stood.  He  and  his  sons,  and  his  sons’  sons,  had  wan¬ 
dered  as  strangers,  very  few  in  number,  without  a  dwell¬ 
ing-place  in  the  land.  Jacob,  well-stricken  in  years, 
had,  together  with  his  eleven  sons,  left  that  land  in  a 

*  1  Chron.,  v.,  9,  18-22.  t  Micah,  vii,,  14,  15. 

N 


146 


ANCIENT  POPULOUSNESS  OF 


time  of  famine  to  go  to  Egypt,  to  dwell  and  to  die  there, 
but  first  to  see  again  his  other  son  Joseph,  who  at  an 
early  age  had  been  taken  as  a  slave-boy  to  the  land  of 
the  Pharaohs,  and  sold  to  the  keeper  of  a  prison.  But 
when  the  four  hundred  years,  spoken  of  by  the  Lord 
Almighty  to  Abraham,  had  expired,  and  Israel  had  be¬ 
come  a  great  people  according  to  His  word,  and  was 
brought  back  again  to  the  land  often  promised  to  their 
race,  the  descendants  of  houseless  but  believing  patri¬ 
archs  experienced  the  truth  of  the  covenant  of  their 
God.  In  such  large  measure  was  their  inheritance  dealt 
out  to  them,  that  when  Joseph,  who  had  been  a  slave 
and  a  prisoner  in  Egypt,  had  become  in  his  descend¬ 
ants  two  tribes  in  Israel,  and  when  he  had  received,  ac¬ 
cording  to  his  father^s  word,  one  portion  above  his 
brethren,  one  half  of  one  of  these  had  for  possession  the 
land  of  Bashan,  with  its  fruitful  hills,  its  rich  plains,  and 
its  sixty  cities ;  and  two  tribes  besides  received  also 
their  proportionate  inheritance  at  their  own  entreaty, 
on  the  east  of  the  Jordan  5  and  when  that  river  was 
passed,  the  land  on  the  west  of  that  river,  with  all  its 
cities,  was  divided  by  lot  among  other  tribes  of  Israel. 

The  western  side  of  the  Jordan  is  a  land  better  known. 
Trodden  as  it  peculiarly  was  by  patriarchs,  and  proph¬ 
ets,  and  apostles,  and,  infinitely  more  than  all,  by  Jesus, 
its  claims  on  every  believer’s  remembrance  are  such  as 
cannot  be  questioned ;  and  the  testimony  of  historic 
and  prophetic  truth  concerning  it  has  an  unchallenge¬ 
able  claim  to  an  unrivalled  interest,  or  such  as  no  other 
land  can  urge,  on  the  part  of  either  Christian  or  Jew. 

The  sum  of  all  the  congregation  was  taken  in  the  plains 
of  Moab,  by  command  of  the  Lord,  before  they  struck 
their  tents  to  take  possession  of  their  inheritance.  The 
land  was  to  be  divided  among  them  according  to  the 
number  of  the  names.  To  many  the  more  inheritance 
was  to  be  given,  and  to  few  the  less.  Exclusive  of  the 
tribe  of  Levi,  there  were  numbered  of  the  children  of 
Israel  above  six  hundred  thousand,*  from  twenty  years 
old  and  upward,  all  that  were  able  to  go  to  war  in  Is¬ 
rael.  As  none  of  them  exceeded  sixty  years  of  age, 
they  could  not  have  formed  more  at  the  utmost  than  a 
third  part  of  the  total  number,  which  could  not  have 

*  Num.,  xxvi.,  51. 


THE  PROMISED  LAND. 


147 


fallen  short  of  two  millions,  and  is  generally  estimated 
at  three.  The  tribes  of  Reuben  and  of  Gad,  and  the 
half  tribe  of  Manasseh,  were  not  numerically  a  fifth  part 
of  Israel,  according  to  the  census  that  was  taken  of  them 
all ;  and  more  than  a  million  and  a  half  must  have  pass¬ 
ed  the  Jordan,  to  take  their  inheritance  at  once  in  the 
land  of  Canaan.  , 

Neither  a  sterile  region,  however  large,  nor  a  waste, 
unreclaimed  country,  however  fertile  naturally,  could,  on 
its  immediate  occupancy,  have  given  ample  space  and 
abundant  sustenance  to  so  vast  a  number  of  simulta¬ 
neous  settlers.  Unlike  what  it  yet  shall  be  on  the  des¬ 
tined  return  of  the  Hebrew  race,  the  land,  on  their  first 
entrance,  was  not  too  narrow  by  reason  of  the  multitude 
of  men ;  but,  numerous  as  were  the  thousands  of  Israel, 
the  land  was  then  too  large  for  the  people.  The  nations 
who  possessed  it  were  to  be  put  out  by  little  and  little^ 
and  the  Israelites  were  commanded  not  to  consume  them 
at  once,  lest  the  beasts  of  the  field  should  increase  upon 
them.f  Four  hundred  years  elapsed  from  their  first  set¬ 
tlement  east  of  the  Jordan  till  the  Hagarites  were 
smitten  and  dispossessed,  and  the  flocks  of  the  Reuben- 
ites  reached  to  the  wilderness  of  the  Euphrates.  When 
the  Jordan  was  first  passed,  and  the  tribes  of  Israel  en¬ 
camped  on  the  plains  of  Jericho,  they  did  eat  of  the  old 
corn  of  the  land  j  and  the  manna  ceased,  as  needed  no 
more,  whenever  they  had  entered  into  Canaan.  That 
land  was  their  own  by  the  covenant  of  their  God — the 
God  of  heaven  and  of  earth.  Their  enemies,  who  were 
many  and  mighty,  speedily  fell  before  them.  The  Ca- 
naanites,  Hittites,  Perizzites,  Jebusites,  and  Hivites  com¬ 
bined  against  them.  Their  kings  went  out,  and  all  their 
hosts  with  them  \  much  people,  even  as  the  sand  that  is 
upon  the  seashore  in  multitude,  with  horses  and  chariots 
very  many,  and  pitched  together  at  the  waters  of  Merom 
to  fight  against  Israel.J  Their  warfa're  was  in  vain, 
for  these  were  days  in  which  the  Lord  of  Hosts  was 
known  to  be  the  God  of  Jacob.  The  allied  kings  of  Ca¬ 
naan,  who  reigned  from  Mount  Seir  to  the  valley  of 
Lebanon,  were  slain  and  utterly  destroyed,  and  all  the 
spoil  of  their  cities  and  cattle  were  the  prey  of  the  peo¬ 
ple  into  whose  hands  the  Lord  had  given  them.  In  the 

*  Deut.,  vii.,  22.  t  Ibid.  t  Josh.,  xi.,  5-7. 


148 


ANCIENT  POPULOUSNESS  OF 


hills,  and  the  valleys,  and  the  plains,  allotted  to  the  in- 
heritance  of  Judah,  a  hundred  and  four  cities,  with  their 
villages,  are  enumerated;*  but,  though  the  most  numer¬ 
ous  of  the  tribes,  the  part  of  the  children  of  Judah  was 
too  much  for  them,  and  the  tribe  of  Simeon  had  their 
inheritance  within  that  of  Judah.  A  greater  number  of 
other  cities  or  towns,  mentioned  ^  name,  were  al¬ 
lotted  among  the  other  tribes.  Forty-eight  cities,  with 
their  suburbs,  were  separated  from  among  the  rest  for 
the  Levites,!  the  least  of  all  the  tribes  ;  and  these  seem 
not  to  have  been  a  tenth  part  of  the  cities  which  were 
divided  among  the  commonwealth  of  Israel. 

The  land  was  subdued,  and  there  stood  not  a  man  of 
their  enemies  before  them.  But,  vast  as  was  the  multi¬ 
tude,  so  ample  were  their  possessions,  that  when  Joshua 
was  old  and  stricken  in  years,  there  remained  much  land 
to  be  possessed,  so  that  there  were  seven  tribes  which 
had  not  then  received  their  inheritance.  Having  assem¬ 
bled  the  whole  congregation  of  Israel  at  Shiloh,  he 
charged  them  with  being  slack  to  go  in  to  possess  the 
land  which  the  Lord  God  of  their  fathers  had  given 
them  ;  and  according  to  the  commandment  of  the  Lord, 
he  divided  that  which  remained,  from  which  their  ene¬ 
mies  had  not  been  driven  out,  as  if  it  had  already  been 
their  own  in  possession.  But  he  warned  them  not  to 
come  unto  these  nations,  or  to  cleave  unto  the  remnant 
of  them,  nor  to  make  mention  of  the  name  of  their  gods, 
else  they  might  know  for  a  certainty  that  the  Lord 
would  not  any  more  drive  out  these  nations  before  them. 

The  Israelites,  in  the  second  generation  after  Joshua, 
transgressed  the  covenant  which  was  their  tenure  of  the 
land,  and  therefore  the  word  came  from  the  Lord  that 
He  would  not  any  more  drive  out  from  among  them  the 
nations  which  Joshua  left  when  he  died.  In  estimating 
the  population,  in  ancient  times,  of  the  promised  land, 
they  to  whom  alone  it  would  have  been  given  if  they  had 
been  faithful  to  their  God  are  not  alone  to  be  reckoned. 
The  Philistines,  and  all  the  Canaanites,  and  other  na¬ 
tions,  were  left  to  prove  Israel  by  them  ;  and  the  Israel¬ 
ites  dwelt  among  the  Canaanites,  Hittites,  and  Amo- 
rites,  and  Perizzites,  and  Hivites,  and  Jebusites.  Be¬ 
sides  these,  the  Ammonites,  Moabites,  and  Edomites 

*  Josh.,  XV.,  20-63.  t  Ibid.,  xii  41 


THE  PROMISED  LAND. 


149 


were  neither  few  nor  feeble.  Their  enemies  that  re¬ 
mained  within  their  own  covenanted  borders  were  so 
numerous  and  strong,  that,  sometimes  even  singly,  and 
often  partially  combined,  they  brought  Israel  very  low, 
in  the  land  promised  to  their  fathers ;  and  the  first  wars 
in  Canaan  were  unlike  to  many  which,  when  faithless  to 
their  God,  they  subsequently  waged,  and  the  Philistines, 
Edomites,  Ammonites,  and  Canaanites  successively  op¬ 
pressed  the  children  of  Israel. 

“From  Dan  to  Beersheba”  was  a  marked  and  even 
proverbial  expression,  which  denoted  “all  Israel,”  from 
one  extremity  to  the  other  of  the  land  which  they  held, 
though  not  exclusively,  in  actual  possession.  But  many 
regions,  now  rich  in  ruins,  and  once  covered  with  cities, 
lay  within  the  bounds  of  Israel’s  promised  inheritance, 
which  were  left  in  the  possession  of  other  nations  than 
the  seed  of  Jacob,  who,  together  with  the  aliens  who 
dwelt  in  the  midst  of  them,  were,  it  may  be  presumed, 
never  less  numerous  than  the  Israelites. 

Though  the  word  had  gone  forth  from  the  Lord  that 
he  would  no  more  drive  out  from  before  them  any 
of  these  nations,  because  they  had  transgressed  His 
covenant  which  He  had  commanded  their  fathers,  and 
though  they  were  often  oppressed  by  their  enemies,  and 
the  Lord  “  vexed  them  with  all  adversity”  when  they 
rebelled  against  Him,  yet  the  children  of  Israel  multi¬ 
plied  in  the  land,  and  became,  more  than  before,  a  great 
nation.  When  David  numbered  the  people,  including 
the  soldiery,  or  those  who  were  called  into  the  actual 
service  of  the  king  in  their  due  course,  month  by  month 
throughout  the  year,  “  all  they  of  Israel  were  eleven 
hundred  thousand  that  drew  sword ;  and  of  Judah, 
four  hundred  and  seventy  thousand,”*  exclusive  of  Levi 
and  Benjamin.  The  whole  congregation  of  Israel  must 
rather  have  exceeded  than  come  short  of  six  millions  of 
souls.  At  a  later  period  of  their  history,  after  the  long, 
peaceful  reign  of  Solomon,  their  progressive  population 
is  sadly  marked  by  the  hostile  armies  of  Judah  and  Is¬ 
rael,  headed  by  their  kings  Abijah  and  Jeroboam,  and 
numbering  respectively  400,000  and  800,000  chosen 
men.f  The  fertility  of  a  country  may  be  told  by  the 
abundant  population  it  sustains,  if  these  be,  as  the  Israel- 

*  1  Chron.,  xxi.,  5.  t  2  Chron.,  xiii.,  3. 

N  2 


150 


ANCIENT  POPULOUSNESS  OF 


ites  were,  an  agricultural  rather  than  a  commercial  peo¬ 
ple.  When  such  armies  were  mustered,  conclusive  ev¬ 
idence  is  given  of  the  vast  population  they  represent, 
and,  consequently,  of  the  fertility  of  the  land  from  which 
its  subsistence  was  derived,  though  every  man  capable 
of  bearingf  arms  had  been  ranked  in  their  number,  with- 
out  the  designation  of  their  being  “chosen  men.”  But 
when  such  armies  of  Israelites  were  set  in  battle  array 
to  defile  with  each  other’s  blood  that  land  which  the 
Lord  had  given  them  for  an  inheritance,  no  argument 
can  be  drawn  from  thence  that  such  would  have  been 
the  full  extent  of  Israel’s  greatness,  if  they  had  kept  the 
covenant  of  the  Lord  their  God,  and  had  not  thus  de¬ 
filed,  as  finally  for  many  ages  they  forfeited  the  goodly 
heritage  which  the  Lord  had  given  them. 

But  without  entering  more  than  is  needful  here  on 
their  history  as  a  nation,  while  yet  they  had  a  land  that 
they  could  call  their  own,  a  single  glance  at  the  last  sad 
scene  may  suffice  to  show,  from  the  teeming  population 
which  inherited  the  last  remnant  of  that  land,  before  they 
were  finally  an  expatriated  race,  without  a  country  or  a 
home,  that  Palestine  sustained  a  vast  population.  Prior 
to  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem,  the  Idumeans  had  en¬ 
croached  far  within  the  lot  of  Judah’s  inheritance,  and 
Eleutheropolis,  then  their  capital,  was  situated  on  the 
plain  of  Judea,  within  fifty  miles  of  Jerusalem.  Sama¬ 
ria  was  peopled  by  an  alien  race,  but  Galilee  was  throng¬ 
ed  with  Jews,  together  with  Perea,  which,  reaching  to 
Ammon  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  Jordan,  formed,  in 
addition  to  the  remaining  portion  of  their  own  proper 
country  of  Judea,  the  whole  territory  then  possessed  by 
the  Jews.  Though  restricted  to  this  comparatively 
small  portion  of  Israel’s  inheritance,  Judea,  as  then  peo¬ 
pled  by  the  Jews,  must,  in  the  time  of  Titus,  have  con¬ 
tained,  as  Volney  admits,  four  millions  of  inhabitants. 
After  having  been  subject  to  the  Roman  sway,  the  Jews 
cast  off  their  authority,  and  resisted  for  more  than  three 
years  the  mighty  masters  of  the  world,  to  whom  the 
siege  of  Jerusalem  was  one  of  the  hardest  enterprises 
they  had  ever  undertaken. 

The  brief  description  given  by  Josephus  of  Judea  in 
the  commencement  of  the  war  is  full  of  interest,  cor¬ 
roborated  as  it  is  by  other  testimony. 


THE  PROMISED  LAND. 


151 


The  two  Galilees  (Upper  and  Lower)  of  so  great 
extent,  and  encompassed  with  so  man}^  nations  of  for¬ 
eigners,  have  been  always  able  to  make  a  strong  resist¬ 
ance  on  all  occasions  of  war.  For  the  Galileans  are 
inured  to  war  from  their  infancy,  and  have  been  always 
very  numerous  j  nor  has  the  country  been  ever  destitute 
of  men  of  courage,  or  wanted  a  numerous  population  j 
for  their  soil  is  universally  rich  and  fruitful,  and  full  of 
plantations  of  trees  of  all  sorts,  insomuch  that  by  its 
fruitfulness  it  invites  the  most  slothful  to  take  pains  in 
its  cultivation.  Accordingly,  it  is  all  cultivated  by  its 
inhabitants,  and  no  part  of  it  lies  waste.  Moreover,  the 
cities  lie  here  very  thick,  and  the  very  many  villages 
there  are  here  are  everywhere  so  full  of  people,  from 
the  richness  of  their  soil,  that  the  very  least  of  them 
contained  above  15,000  inhabitants.  It  is  all  capable  of 
cultivation,  and  is  everywhere  fruitful. 

“Perea,  though  partly  desert,  and  esteemed  less  fer¬ 
tile  than  Galilee,  yet  has  a  moist  soil,  and  produces  all 
kinds  of  fruits,  and  its  plains  are  planted  with  all  sorts 
of  trees,  while  yet  the  olive-tree,  the  vine,  and  the  palm 
are  chiefly  cultivated  there.  It  is  also  sufficiently  wa¬ 
tered  with  torrents,  which  issue  out  of  the  mountains, 
and  with  springs,  that  never  fail  to  flow,  even  when  the 
torrents  fail  them,  as  they  do  in  the  heat  of  summer.” 

Samaria  is  described  by  Josephus  as  of  the  same  na¬ 
ture  with  Judea,  “  for  both  countries  are  made  up  of 
hills  and  valleys,  and  are  moist  enough  for  agriculture, 
and  are  very  fruitful.  They  have  abundance  of  trees, 
and  are  full  of  autumnal  fruit,  both  that  which  grows 
wild,  and  that  which  is  the  effect  of  cultivation.  They 
are  not  naturally  watered  by  many  rivers,  but  derive 
their  chief  moisture  from  rain  water,  of  which  they  have 
no  want ;  and  for  the  rivers  which  they  have,  all  their 
waters  are  exceedingly  sweet ;  and,  what  is  the  greatest 
sign  of  excellence  and  abundance,  they  each  of  them 
are  very  full  of  people.”* 

Such  was  the  remnant  of  the  goodly  heritage  of  Ja¬ 
cob  immediately  before  it  was  wrested  from  the  last 
tribe  that  possessed  it,  and  such  was  the  land  of  the 
Jews  ere  they  ceased  to  be  a  united  nation,  with  a  coun¬ 
try  that  they  could  call  their  own.  They  had  ceased 

*  Joseph..,  Hist.,  b.  iii.,  c.  3. 


152 


ANCIENT  POPULOUSNESS  OF 


to  be  blessed,  as  their  fathers  had  been.  Israel  ere 
then  had  been  shorn  of  its  g^lory,  and  had  gone  into 
captivity.  Judah  had  become  tributary,  and  the  seep 
tre  had  departed  from  it.  Jerusalem,  once  the  metrop¬ 
olis  of  Syria,  with  a  recognised  supremacy  from  the 
River  of  Egypt  to  the  Euphrates,  had  shrunk  into  the 
denuded  capital  of  a  rebellious  province,  which,  in  the 
attempt  to  regain  its  liberty,  brought  on  itself  swift  and 
complete  destruction.  Yet,  on  a  retrospect  of  the  past, 
in  order  to  know  that  Israel’s  was  a  goodly  heritage,  it 
is  only  needful  to  look  to  what  Judea  continued  to  be, 
while  it  was  full  of  iniquity,  as  the  Jewish  historian  re¬ 
lates,  and  ripe  for  judgment,  as  the  event  bore  witness, 
till  those  to  whom  it  was  given  by  the  covenant  of  their 
God  were  rooted  out  of  it,  according  to  his  word,  with 
anger  and  wrath,  and  great  indignation.  Its  state  then 
could  not  rightly  be  taken  as  any  illustration  of  the  ful¬ 
ness  of  the  promise,  or  the  richness  of  the  inheritance 
pertaining  to  a  people  faithful  to  the  covenant  of  their 
God,  nor  can  it  be  reckoned  as  the  full  measure  of  the 
bounty  and  the  blessing  which  awaits  Israel  in  the  lat¬ 
ter  days,  when  God  shall  establish  with  them  an  ever¬ 
lasting  covenant  of  peace.  But  from  what  Judea  was 
even  then,  a  testimonial  may  be  taken  of  what  Israel 
yet  may  be. 

That  the  plain  of  Judah,  as  well  as  that  of  Galilee, 
was  then  covered  with  an  abundant  population,  is  ob¬ 
vious  from  the  express  statement  of  Strabo,  as  illustra¬ 
ted  by  the  fact  that,  from  the  village  of  Jamnia  and 
from  the  inhabitants  around  it,  forty  thousand  armed 
men  could  be  sent  forth  into  the  field.'* 

Hecateus,  who  flourished  about  three  hundred  years 
before  Josephus  (when  the  Jews,  though  a  tributary 
people,  had  greatly  recovered  from  the  Babylonish  cap¬ 
tivity),  described  the  country  of  Judea  as  containing 
3,000,000  of  Egyptian  acres  (about  2,250,000  English 
acres),  generally  of  a  most  excellent  and  most  fruitful 
soil ;  as  containing  many  strong  places  and  villages,  the 
chief  city,  Jerusalem,  being  inhabited  by  one  hundred 
and  twenty  thousand  men.  According  to  Tacitus,  who, 
like  Josephus,  wrote  a  history  of  the  Jewish  war,  great 

*  Kai  £vavSfir]ij£v  ovtos  h  toVos  wj’  £K  Trjs  Tr'Xrjaiov  Kcoixt];  la/xyhas,  Kai  rwv  KaTOLKiSi^ 
T(p  AcuKXtp  TfTTufias  ixvpidduf  h-K^'C^taQai, — Strabo,  tom.  ii.,  1079. 


THE  PROMISED  LAND. 


153 


part  of  Judea  was  overspread  with  villages,  besides 
towns,  the  chief  of  which  was  a  strongly-fortified  city. 
By  the  lowest  estimation  given  by  him,  the  number  of 
Jews  that  perished  in  the  siege  and  destruction  of  Jeru¬ 
salem  was  600,000,  which,  according  to  Josephus,  form¬ 
ed  the  number  of  dead  bodies  that  were  carried  out  at 
a  single  gate.  Of  no  siege,  in  all  history,  is  there  so 
circumstantial  a  detail,  even  as  it  was  one  of  unequalled 
misery  and  slaughter.  As  the  vast  population  of  Israel 
in  former  ages  could  best  be  told  from  the  hundreds  of 
thousands  in  the  armies  mustered  against  each  other, 
when  Ephraim  fought  with  Judah,  so,  when  the  latter 
alone  was  left,  and  the  time  had  come  when  it  too  was 
to  be  rooted  out,  the  thousands  of  Judah  were  counted 
by  the  myriads  of  the  slain.  In  Jerusalem,  and  other 
cities  and  towns,  as  specially  enumerated  by  Josephus, 
above  thirteen  hundred  thousand  perished.  The  multi¬ 
tude  of  sacrifices  could  not  save  them.  The  number 
of  these,  at  the  last  passover,  was  256,500,  indicating 
an  assemblage  within  and  around  Jerusalem  of  two 
millions  and  a  half,  which  could  not  have  exceeded  a 
moiety  of  the  gross  Jewish  population  before  it  was 
thinned  by  the  sword,  and  pestilence,  and  famine. 

Again  and  again  the  Lord  rooted  them  out  of  their  land 
in  anger y  and  in  wrath^  and  in  great  indignation^  and  final¬ 
ly  scattered  them  among  all  nations  under  heaven.  In  the 
curses  of  the  covenant  it  was  written  that  the  Lord 
would  bring  a  nation  against  them  from  far ^  from  the  end 
of  the  earth  ;  that  they  would  be  besieged  in  all  their  gates 
throughout  all  their  land,  and  that  their  cities  would  be 
laid  waste.*  And  after  the  destruction  of  the  city  and 
the  sanctuary  by  the  Romans,  and  the  expulsion  of  the 
Jews  from  Judea,  they  soon  rallied  again  around  the 
cities  of  their  fathers,  and  strove  to  throw  off  the  Ro¬ 
man  yoke.  All  Judea,  as  a  heathen  historian  relates, 
was  in  a  state  of  commotion ;  and,  aided  as  the  Jews 
were  by  others,  to  assert  their  liberty,  the  whole  em¬ 
pire  was  convulsed.  The  Emperor  Adrian  sent  all  his 
best  commanders  against  the  Jews,  the  chief  of  whom 
was  Julius  Severus,  who  commanded  in  Britain,  and 
went  from  the  end  of  the  then  known  world  to  Pales¬ 
tine.  Awed  by  their  numbers  and  despair,  he  dared 

*  Deut.,  xxviii.,  49,  51,  52. 


154 


ANCIENT  POPULOUSNESS  OP 


|iot  to  meet  them  in  the  open  field,  but  attacked  them 
separately  with  a  great  body  of  soldiers  and  tribunes, 
cut  off  their  provisions,  and  adopting  the  slow  mode  of 
successive  sieges,  or  shutting  them  up  in  detached  bodies 
within  their  towns  and  villages,  or  besieging  them  in  all 
their  gates,  the  Roman  armies  so  oppressed  and  broke 
them  down  when  shut  up,  that  very  few  escaped  j  and  five 
hundred  of  their  strongly-fortified  citadels,  and  nine  hun¬ 
dred  and  eighty-five  of  their  most  celebrated  and  noble 
villages,  were  overthrown  to  their  foundations.  In  sal¬ 
lies  and  battles  five  hundred  and  eighty  thousand  were 
slain ;  by  famine,  disease,  and  by  fire,  an  “  infinite  mul¬ 
titude”  perished,  so  that  almost  all  Judea  was  emptied 
of  its  inhabitants,  and  left  like  a  desert.*  Such,  too, 
was  the  slaughter  of  the  Romans,  so  fiercely  did  the 
Jews  contend  for  their  fatherland  ere  they  could  be 
rooted  out  of  it,  that  Adrian,  in  addressing  the  Senate, 
omitted  in  his  despatch  the  usual  exordium:  “If  you 
and  your  children  are  in  health,  it  is  well ;  I  and  the 
army  are  well.”  But  the  Romans  unconsciously  exe¬ 
cuted  their  commission,  and  completed  the  work  of  de¬ 
struction. 

In  the  very  completion  of  the  predicted  judgments, 
while  the  curses  of  a  covenant  which  they  had  broken 
pursued  them  from  the  land  promised  to  their  fathers, 
or  cut  them  off  within  it,  it  may  be  seen  how  goodly 
was  the  heritage  they  lost,  and  how  many  were  the 
fortresses  and  noble  villages  of  Judea,  after  the  chief 
cities  had  fallen,  and  Jerusalem  had  been  laid  even  with 
the  ground.  It  passed  into  the  hands  of  other  posses¬ 
sors:  and  the  land  of  Israel,  thus  brought  low,  when  it 
ceased  to  be  tenanted  by  any  of  the  tribes  or  of  the 
race  of  Israel,  had  yet  to  bear,  in  after  ages,  the  heavy 
curses  of  a  broken  covenant,  till,  on  the  completion  of 
them,  the  time  should  come  when  Israel  should  be  in 
blindness  and  the  land  in  bondage  no  more. 

*  Iladrianus  optimos  quosque  duces  adversum  eos  mittit,  quorum  primus  fuit 
Julius  Severus,  qui  ex  Britannia,  cui  praeerat,  contra  Judceos  missus  est.  Hie  nul¬ 
la  ex  parte  ausus  est  aperte  cum  hostibus  congredi,  multitudine,  ipsorum,  atque 
desperatione  cognita  ;  sed  eos  separatim  magno  militum  ac  tribunorum  numero  ador- 
tus,  commeatu  prohibuit,  atque  interclusos  serius  quidem,  sed  minore  cum  periculo, 
ita  oppressit  fugitque,  ut  pauci  adinodum  evaserint,  et  quinquaginta  eorum  arces 
munitissimae  vicique  celeberrimi  atque  nobilissimi  nongenti  octoginta  quinque  fundi- 
tus  eversi  sint.  Caesa  sunt  in  execursionibus  preeliisque  hominum  quingenta  octo¬ 
ginta  millia  ,  eorum  autem  qui  fame,  morbo,  et  igni  inlerierunt,  infinita  fu-it  multi- 
tudo  ita  ut  omnes  pcene  Judsea  deserta  relicta  fuerit  —  Dion  Cass.,  Hist.  Rom,  lib. 
Ixix.,  p.  798. 


THE  PROMISED  LAND. 


155 


So  abundant  was  the  population,  and  so  fertile  the 
land  of  Judea,  till  the  time  had  come  when  the  iniquity 
of  the  Jews  was  fullj  when  the  threatened  judgments 
could  no  longer  tarry,  and  the  people  to  whom  it  had 
been  given  were  cast  forth  out  of  the  land,  and  scatter¬ 
ed  as  homeless  wanderers  throughout  a  persecuting 
world.  But,  though  the  Jews  have  lost  their  pleasant 
land,  still  the  land  of  their  desire ;  and  though  God  has 
seemed  to  forsake  his  inheritance,  yet  far  more  exten¬ 
sive  regions  than  they  ever  possessed,  or  any  of  the 
other  tribes  of  Israel  ever  fully  inherited,  have  as  strong 
claims  as  Judea  itself  for  ranking  as  portions  of  the 
goodly  heritage  of  Jacob,  as  they  manifestly  lie  within 
its  divinely-appointed  borders. 

In  Ptolemy’s  geography,  forty-three  cities  or  towns* 
are  enumerated  in  Palestine  or  Judea,  including  Gal¬ 
ilee,  Samaria,  and  Philistia,  while  more  than  a  hundred 
and  ninety!  besides  these  have  their  localities  within 

*  Cffisarea  Stratonis,  Apollonia,  Joppe,  Jaranetoruia  portus,  Azotus,  Gazseorum 
portus,  Ascalon,  Anthedoii. 

Galilsa,  Camphuris  (Sapphura),  Capernaum,  Julias,  Tiberias. 

Samaria,  Neapolis,  Thena. 

Judaea  (on  the  west  of  the  Jordan),  Rhaphia,  Gaza,  Jamnia,  Lydda,  Antipatris, 
Drusias,  Sebaste,  Baetogabra,  Esbus,  Emmaus,  Guphna,  Archelais,  Phasaeiis,  Jer- 
icus,  Hierosolyma  (Jerusalem,  then  called  (Elia  Capitolina),  Thamna,  Engada, 
Beddoro,  Thamaro. 

JuDAiA  (on  the  east  of  the  Jordan),  Cosmos,  Libias,  Callirrhoe,  Gazaros,  Epicasros. 

IduMjEa  (on  the  west  of  the  Jordan),  Mezarmae  (Berzamma,  Bersabee),  Caparorsa, 
Gemmaruris,  Elusa,  Maps. 

t  Seleucia  Pieria,  Orontis  flu.  ostia  (Tiphon),  Fontes  fluvii  (Ophites),  Posidium, 
Heraclea-,  Laodicia,  Gabala  (Gebal),  Paltos  (Platos),  Balanae. 

Phcenicia,  Simyra,  Orthosia,  Tripolis,  Dieu  prosopou,  vtl  Dei  Facies,  Botrys, 
Byblus,  Berytus,  Sinon,  T)tus,  Ecdippa,  Ptolemais,  Sycarainos,  Dora,  Area,  Palsea- 
biblus,  vel  vetus  biblus,  Gabala,  Caesarea,  Panias. 

CoMAGENE  (Azar),  Areca,  Antiochia  penes  Taurum,  Singa,  Germanicia,  Cata- 
mana,  Doliche  (Dolica),  Deba,  Chaonia,  Chobmadara,  Samosata. 

Cyrristica,  Ariseria,  Regias,  Ruba,  Heracleum,  Niara,  Hierapolis,  Cyrrus, 
Bercea,  Thena,  Paphara,  Vrema,  Arudis,  Zeuguma,  Europus,  Cecilia,  Bethammaria, 
Gerrhe,  Arimara,  Eragiza. 

Seleucidis,  (iephyra,  Gindarus,  Imma. 

Cassiolidis,  Antiochia,  Daphne,  Bactaialla,  Audea  (Lydia),  Seleucus  penes  Be- 
ium,  Larissa,  Epiphania,  Raphaneie,  Antaradus,  Marathus,  Mariamne,  Mamuga. 

Chai.ybonitidis,  Thema,  Acoraca  (Acoraba),  Derrhima,  Chalybon,  Spelunca 
(Spelucca),  Barbarissus,  Athis. 

Chalcidices,  Chalcis,  Asaphidama,  Tolmidessa,  Maronias,  Coara. 

Apamene,  Nazama  (Nazaba),  Thelininissus,  Apamia,  Emissa  (Hernesa). 

Laodicene,  Cabiosa  Laodicia,  Paradisus,  Jabruda. 

CuRVA  Syria,  Ccele-Syria,  or  Decapolis,  Heliopolis,  Abila  cognomine  Lysa- 
nii,  Gaana  (Gasana),  Ina,  Damascus,  Samulis,  Abida,  Hippus,  Capitolias,  Idara, 
Adra,  Scythopolis,  Gerasa,  Pella,  Dium,  Gadora,  Philadelphia,  Canatha. 

Palmyrenes,  Rhesapha,  Cholle,  Oriza,  Putea,  Adana,  Palmyra,  Adacha,  Dana- 
ba,  Goaria,  Auera,  Casama,  Odmana,  Aleia,  Alalis,  Sura,  Alamata. 

Batanasa,  Gerrha,  Elere,  Nelaxa,  Adi^ma. 

Arabia  PetRjEA,  Eboda,  Maliattha,  Calguia,  Lysa,  Guba,  Gypsaria,  Gerasa, 
Petra,  Characoma  (Characomba),  Auara,  Zanaatha,  Adrou,  Zoara,  Thoana,  Necla, 
Cletharro,  Moca,  Sebunta  (Esebon),  Ziza,  Maguza,  Medaua,  Audia,  Rhabmathmoma, 
Anitha,  Surratha,  Bostra  (Bosrah),  Mesada,  Adra,  Corace 


ANCIENT  POPULOUSN&39  OF 


1  56 

the  geographical  limits  of  the  promised  land.  Of  these, 
seventeen  cities  were  situated  in  the  land  of  Phoenicia, 
aloncr  the  coast,  between  the  mouth  of  the  river  which 
flows  between  Tyre  and  Sidon,  opposite  to  Dan,  to  the 
mouth  of  the  Orontes.  On  the  banks  of  that  river  stood 
twelve  noble  cities  or  towns,  among  which,  Seleucia, 
Antioch,  Apamea,  Epiphania,  Emesa,  and  Heliopolis 
(Baalbec)  were  numbered,  the  last  of  which,  though  in 
modern  times  greatly  renowned  among  ruins,  had  an¬ 
ciently  but  a  subordinate  place  among  the  cities  of 
Syria.  Other  cities  were  situated  between  the  Oron¬ 
tes  and  the  Mediterranean  ;  while  the  Syrian  provinces 
north  of  Damascus,  as  then  distinguished,  Seleucia,  Cyr- 
ristica,  Cassiotis,  Calchis,  Chalybon,  Apamea,  and  Lao- 
dicea  ad  Libanum,  numbered  collectively  upward  of 
fifty  towns  or  cities.  Besides  the  ten  cities,  whose 
number  gave  that  region  its  name,  other  eight  are  add¬ 
ed  by  Ptolemy  to  the  cities  of  the  Decapolis.  Syria, 
as  Volney  justly  remarks,  contained  a  hundred  flourish¬ 
ing  cities,  and  abounded  with  towns,  and  villages,  and 
hamlets. 

Syria,  according  to  heathen  testimony,  was  thus  over¬ 
spread  with  cities  at  the  commencement  of  the  Chris¬ 
tian  era.  It  was  the  garden,  and,  together  with  Egypt, 
the  granary  of  Rome — the  imperial  city  which  reigned 
over  the  greatest  empire  that  ever  existed  in  the  world. 
The  fierce  and  protracted  warfare  of  the  Jews  with  the 
Romans,  and  their  desperate  and  all  but  despairing  at¬ 
tempt  to  repossess  their  inheritance,  brought  renewed 
and  redoubled  desolation  on  Judea,  and  levelled  its 
cities  with  the  ground.  .But  in  after  ages  it  greatly 
recovered  from  the  destructive  overthrow.  Christian¬ 
ity  flourished  for  a  season  in  the  country  which  gave  it 
birth.  Though  Jerusalem  had  fallen,  the  city  where 
men  were  first  called  Christians  had  for  a  long  time  a 
high  place  among  the  chief  cities  of  the  world,  and  un- 

AR\BiADESERTA,Thapsacus,  Bithra  (Bithra),  Gadirtha,  Auzara,  Audattha,  Edda- 
ta  (Dadara),  Balataea  (Balagsea),  Pharga,  Colorina  (Calarina),  Belgnsea  (Belygn-dea), 
Ammaea,  Adiicara  (Idicara),  Jocara  (Jucara),  Barathema  (Barathena),  Saue,  Coche 
(Choce),  Gauara,  Aurana  (Auran),  Beganna  (Rheganna),  Alata,  Erupa,  Themma, 
Luma,  Thauba,  Seuia,  Dapha,  Sora,  Odogana,  Tednim,  Zagmais,  Arrhade,  Abtera 
(Obaera),  Artemita,  Nachaba  (Banacha),  Dumaetba,  Allata,  Abere,  Calatbusa,  Salma. 

The  celebrated  Itinerary  of  Antoninus  ^gustus,  a  most  precious  relic  of  antiqui¬ 
ty,  worthy  of  a  Roman  emperor  to  bequeath  to  the  world,  marks  the  relative  distance 
of  the  chief  of  these  cities.  And  the  portion  of  it  that  refers  to  them  is  inserted  in 
the  Appendix. 


THE  PROMISED  LAND. 


157 


questionably  ranked  next  to  Rome  and  Alexandria  as 
the  third,  if  not  the  second  city  of  the  empire.  Though 
the  people  of  the  land  had  perished  from  off  it,  and 
were  scattered  abroad^  and  imperial  decrees  followed 
hard  on  each  other,  prohibiting  the  Jews  from  entering 
the  land  of  their  fathers,  or  daring  even  to  draw  near  to 
look  upon  the  place  where  Jerusalem  had  stood,  a  once 
alienated  people,  who  embraced  the  everlasting  cove¬ 
nant  and  received  the  Spirit  of  adoption,  arose  within 
it,  and  for  a  season  prospered  there,  as  if  Israel’s  in¬ 
heritance  had  been  given  to  the  Gentiles.  The  progress 
of  desolation  was  stayed,  and  time  was  given  as  if  to 
try  whether  the  better  covenant,  established  upon  bet¬ 
ter  promises,  would  be  kept  by  those  who,  in  the  faith 
of  Jesus,  professed  to  be  the  children,  though  not  ac¬ 
cording  to  the  flesh,  of  faithful  Abraham.  But  as  the 
great  apostacy  began  to  work  in  the  days  of  the  apos¬ 
tles,  so  the  simplicity  of  the  faith  as  it  is  in  Jesus  soon 
forsook  the  scene  of  its  origin ;  and,  leaving  the  plains 
of  Syria  and  other  fertile  regions,  took  refuge  in  an 
Alpine  wilderness,  in  the  place  which  the  Lord  had  pre¬ 
pared*  for  his  faithful  witnesses,  while  idolatry  resumed 
its  domination  in  the  East  and  in  the  West. 

The  forbearance  and  long-suffering  patience  of  God 
are  manifested  by  the  suspension  of  unrepealed  judg¬ 
ments,  even  when  the  sinfulness  of  man  might  call  them 
justly  down.  The  proof  is  too  abundant  that,  in  the 
land  where  its  Author  was  crucified,  the  everlasting 
covenant  was  broken  by  those  who  bore  the  Christian 
name. 

The  prophetic  cause  assigned  for  the  ultimate  deso¬ 
lation  of  the  land,  while  its  own  inhabitants  shall  be 
scattered  abroad,  till  nothing  but  a  tithe  of  what  it  was 
should  remain,  is  thus  declared  in  the  Word  that  never 
errs,  and  that  speaks  of  things  then  future  as  if  they 
had  been  past:  “Because  the  inhabitants  thereof  have 
transgressed  the  laws,  changed  the  ordinance,  and 
broken  the  everlasting  covenant,  therefore  hath  the 
curse  devoured  the  land,  and  they  that  dwell  therein  are 
desolate.”!  It  is  needful  to  bear  this  testimony  of  the 
Spirit  of  prophecy  in  remembrance  while  surveying 
that  land  where  Christian  churches  were  established 


*  Rev.,  lii.,  fi. 


t  Isa.,  xxiv.,  5,  6. 


o 


158 


ANCIENT  POPULOUSNESS  OF 


after  Jerusalem  and  its  temple  had  been  laid  even  with 
the  ground.  A  Tar  greater  and  longer  desolation  has 
come  over  the  land  of  Israel  than  that  which  was  brought 
on  it  by  the  Romans,  and  Christian  churches,  almost 
without  number,  have  been  laid  as  low  as  were  the 
Temple  of  Jerusalem  and  the  synagogues  of  Israel.  In 
a  retrospect  of  the  past,  there  are  manifold  proofs  that 
Palestine  and  the  surrounding  regions  vied  in  fertility, 
population,  and  wealth  with  any  land  during  the  earlier 
ages  of  the  lower  empire.  Judea,  indeed,  had  fallen, 
after  one  of  the  bloodiest  wars  that  ever  stained  the 
page  of  history,  or  reddened  any  land  ;  but  beyond  Ju¬ 
dea  there  was  little  else  than  quiet  submission  to  the 
Roman  yoke.  That  iron  power  kept  the  world  in  awe, 
and  comparative  peace,  to  what  it  long  had  known, 
reigned  over  Syria.  As  a  Roman  province,  it  was  re¬ 
nowned  in  the  world,  and  witness  was  given  again  how 
vast  a  population  it  could  sustain.  Long  after  their 
domination  began,  not  only  were  ancient  cities  restored, 
but  new  cities  arose  j  to  the  massive  structures  of  an¬ 
cient  ages  they  added  the  beauties  of  Grecian  art  j  and 
though  the  withering  blight  of  Heaven’s  wrath  had 
fallen  on  the  mountains  and  plains  of  Judea,  Syria,  un¬ 
der  the  Romans,  recovered  for  a  time  from  many 
desolating  contests,  gave  some  renewed  token  of  what 
it  may  be  in  the  hands  of  its  rightful  possessors, 
when  Israel  shall  be  redeemed  —  when  peace  shall  uni¬ 
versally  prevail,  and  when  there  shall  be  desolations  no 
more. 

In  a  description  of  the  provinces  of  the  East,  as  they 
existed  in  the  middle  of  the  fourth  century,  when  the 
empire  was  called  Christian — as  if  Jerusalem,  not  Rome, 
had  been  the  capital  of  the  world — Ammianus  Marcel- 
linus,  an  eminent  Roman  historian,  portrays,  in  a  few 
words,  the  different  divisions  of  Syria,  and  gives  a  brief 
notice  of  its  cities  as  they  existed  then. 

Syria  {Cmle-Syria),  spreading  over  a  spacious  plain, 
is  ennobled  by  Antioch,  a  city  known  throughout  the 
world,  which  in  the  number  of  its  exports  and  imports 
is  unequalled  by  any  other,  and  also  by  the  very  flour¬ 
ishing  cities  of  Laodicea,  Apamea,  and  Seleucia.  Phceni- 
cia^  lying  along  the  acclivities  of  Lebanon,  is  full  of  the 
bounties  and  loveliness  of  nature,  and  is  adorned  with 


THE  PROMISED  LAND. 


159 


many  beautiful  cities,  among  which,  though  Tyre,  Si- 
don,  and  Berytus  excel  for  their  pleasantness  and  the 
celebrity  of  their  names,  they  yet  have  their  equals  in 
Emesa  and  Damascus.  Palestine,  abounding  in  culti¬ 
vated  and  flourishing  regions,  has  several  great  cities 
which  rival  each  other  in  their  excellence,  viz.,  Csesarea, 
Eleutheropolis,  Neapolis,  Askelon,  and  Gaza.  The  re¬ 
gion  beyond  the  Jordan,  denominated  Arabia,  is  rich  in 
the  variety  of  the  merchandise  of  which  it  is  full ;  it  has, 
besides  other  large  towns,  the  cities  of  Bostra,  Gerasa, 
and  Philadelphia,  which  the  solidity  of  their  walls  ren¬ 
ders  most  secure.* 

The  Roman  colony  of  subjugated  Palestine  was  divi¬ 
ded  into  three  provinces,  each  of  which  appropriated 
alike  that  noblest  of  territorial  names.  Of  these  the 
first,  Palestina  Prima^  included  the  land  of  Philistia,  the 
greater  part  of  Judea,  and  Samaria.  The  second  em¬ 
braced  within  its  bounds  Galilee  on  the  one  side  of  the 
Lake  of  Tiberias,  and  the  region  of  Gaulonitis,  or  Gada- 
ra,  on  the  other,  but  was  hemmed  in  by  Phoenicia,  on 
the  Mediterranean  coast.  The  thirds  Palestina  Tertia, 
vel  Salutaris,  included  the  southern  part  of  Judea, 
together  with  Edom  and  Moab.  The  far  greater  part 
of  the  trans-Jordanic  region,  though  strictly  pertaining 
to  Syria,  bore,  from  “  Roman  vanity,”  the  name  of  Ara¬ 
bia.  From  Dan  to  Beersheba,  the  whole  of  the  three 
Palestines,  as  of  Israel’s  ancient  inheritance,  was  meas¬ 
ured  in  their  utmost  limits  from  north  to  south.  These, 
therefore,  unitedly  formed  but  a  small  portion  of  the 
land  that  was  at  first  promised  to  their  fathers,  and 
shall  at  last  be  divided  among  the  Israelitish  tribes. 
Yet,  trodden  dowm  by  the  Gentiles  as  Palestine  was, 
and  meted  out  for  the  possession  of  Israel’s  enemies, 
and  yielding  up  its  remains  to  an  Italian  republic,  the 
cities  of  Palestine,  having  risen  more  than  once  from 
their  ruins,  were  yet  to  be  reckoned  by  a  number  far 
larger  than  some  independent  kingdoms  can  boast. 

Different  lists  of  the  episcopal  cities  of  the  three  Pal¬ 
estines  are  given  in  Reland’s  most  valuable  work.  In 
the  first  of  these,  which  he  deemed  incomplete,  the 
number  of  those  places,  of  which  each  was  a  bishop’s 
see,  exceeded  seventy.  Palestina  Prima,  containing 

*  Ammianus  Marcellinus,  lib.  xiv.,  cap,  viii. 


160 


ANCIENT  POPULOUSNESS  OF 


thirty-five  bishoprics  f  Palestina  Secunda,  twenty-one  ;t 
and  Palestina  Tertia^  eighteen  seventy-four  in  all.  To 
these  are  to  be  added,  as’given  by  Reland  in  another 
list,  sixteen  bishop’s  sees  in  the  Phoenician  provinces  of 
Arabia,  twelve  in  the  province  of  Lebanon,  and  thirty- 
four  in  that  of  Arabia,  or  the  Haouran,  of  which  Bostra 
was  the  capital. 

But  Palestine,  in  its  widest  extent,  when  divided  into 
three  Roman  provinces,  was  far  from  comprehending 
the  destined  heritage  of  Jacob;  and  a  much  more  com¬ 
plete  list  of  the  bishop’s  sees  in  Syria  is  affixed  by  the 
Archbishop  of  Tyre  to  his  history  of  the  Crusades. 

As  Antioch,  in  former  ages,  had  been  the  seat  of  em¬ 
perors  and  kings,  whether  the  successors  of  Pharaoh, 
or  Nebuchadnezzar,  or  of  Alexander,  or  bearing  the 
name  of  Caesars;  so,  when  a  proud  hierarchy,  supplant¬ 
ing  in  its  native  region  the  simplicity  of  the  faith  of  the 
meek  and  lowly  Jesus,  outrivalled  earthly  principalities, 
the  same  city,  long  accustomed  to  rule,  became  the 
apostolic  see  of  Syria,  and  held  in  subjection  to  its  au¬ 
thority,  as  their  titles  ran,  many  catholici,  metropoli¬ 
tans,  archbishops,  and  bishops.  In  vain,  according  to 
an  ecclesiastical  polity  like  theirs,  did  Jesus  say  to  his 
apostles  themselves,  “Ye  know  that  they  which  are  ac¬ 
counted  to  rule  over  the  Gentiles  exercise  lordship  over 
them,  and  their  great  ones  exercise  authority  upon 
them  ;  but  so  shall  it  not  be  among  you  ;  but  whosoever 
will  be  great  among  you,  shall  be  your  minister  ;  and 
whosoever  of  you  will  be  the  chiefest,  shall  be  servant 
of  all.”§  In  vain  did  Jesus,  when  his  disciples  disputed 
which  of  them  should  be  greatest,  take  a  little  child  and 
place  him  in  the  midst  of  them,  as  a  pattern  worthy  of 
the  imitation  of  apostles,  declaring  that  no  man  could 
enter  in  another  manner  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven  ;|| 
and  in  vain  did  he  say,  “  Be  not  ye  called  rabbi  ;  for 

*  ^lia  or  Jerusalem,  Anthedon,  Antipatris,  Apathus,  Aracla  or  ITeraclea,  Arche- 
lais,  Ascalon,  Azotus,  Bitelion,  Baschat,  Ccesarea,  Diocletianopolis,  Diosopolis,  Dora, 
Eleutheropolis,  Gadara,  Gaza,  Gerara,  Jericho,  Jamnia,  Joppe,  Livias,  Lydda,  Ma- 
gisma,  Minois,  Neapolis,  Nicopolis,  Orus,  Petra  (Palestina),  Raphia,  Sebaste,  Sozu- 
sa,  Sycamazon,  Toxus,  Tricornias. 

t  Abila,  Capercotia,  Capitolias,  Diocjesarea,  Gad®,  Gadara,  Gaulame  Clima,  Ilel- 
enopolis,  Hippus,  Maximinianopolis,  Mennith,  Nais,  Pella,  Raphia,  Scythopolis,  Se¬ 
baste,  Sozusa,  Sycamazon,  Tetra  Comias,  Tiberias,  Zabulon. 

t  Aila,  Areopolis,  Arindela,  Augustopolis,  Birosaba,  Characmoba,  Eluza,  Mamap- 
^ra.  Mapse,  Mitrocomia,  Pentacomia,  Petra,  Pharan,  Phonon,  Rabathmoba,  Saltus 
Hieraticus,  Sodom  a,  Zoara. — Vide  Relandi  Palestina,  p.  207-214. 

§  Mark,  X.,  42-44.  ||  Matt.,  xviii.,  2,  3. 


THE  PROMISED  LAND. 


161 


one  is  your  nnaster,  even  Christ,  and  all  ye  are  brethren.^'’^ 
In  apostolic  times,  as  the  infallible  record  of  the  Spirit 
of  all  truth  bears,  bishops  or  presbyters,  then  inter¬ 
changeable  terms,  were  those  whom  the  Holy  Ghost 
made  overseers  (or  bishops)  over  the  jlock^\  and  of 
whom  there  were  several,  if  not  many,  in  one  town,  as 
at  Ephesus  and  Philippi.  But  in  after  ages  cities  de¬ 
rived  their  title  to  that  name,  which  had  from  thence 
its  origin  as  the  seats  [sedes)  or  sees  of  bishops.  And 
the  multiplicity  of  these  —  on  the  establishment  of  a 
hierarchical  order,  that  exercised  dominion  and  lord- 
ship  in  the  Church,  as  did  secular  princes  in  the  world 
— may  clearly  indicate  how  Palestine  was  plenteously 
repeopled  by  another  race  after  the  extermination  of 
the  Jews,  and  how  the  other  regions  of  Syria  teemed 
as  before  with  an  abounding  population.  In  many  of 
these  cities,  if  not  in  all,  episcopal  dignity  was  main¬ 
tained  in  a  manner  befitting  papal  domination  ;  and  the 
ruins  of  cathedrals,  and  many  other  churches  once 
magnificent,  amid  the  remains  of  many  towns  scattered 
over  Syria,  show  how  numerous  and  splendid  were  its 
cities  in  Christian  times. 

Jerusalem,  indeed,  had  fallen,  and  a  blighting  curse 
rested  on  the  hills  of  Judah,  ftom  which  they  never 
have  recovered.  The  rightful  capital  of  Christendom, 
and  the  destined  seat  of  a  universal  kingdom  of  truth, 
and  righteousness,  and  peace,  raised  not  its  head,  even 
in  mockery  of  its  true  greatness,  for  many  an  age. 
Though  the  Apostle  James  was  the  reputed  Bishop  of 
Jerusalem,  and  though  bishops  were  but  the  fifth  in  or¬ 
der  under  the  apostolic  see  of  Antioch,  whatever  Rome 
might  boast  of  concerning  one  of  the  apostles,  there  is 
something  worse  than  a  blank  in  the  “apostolic  succes¬ 
sion”  of  the  man  who  gave  the  sentence,  in  which  all 
concurred,  in  “the  first  council”  of  the  Church,  and  in 
the  primitive  seat  of  Christianity.  For,  as  an  arch¬ 
bishop  records,  while  Syria  could  count  many  metro¬ 
politans  and  archbishops,  with  numerous  bishoprics 
under  each,  and  others  that  maintained  these  titular 
dignities,  the  Church  of  Jerusalem,  according  to  tradi¬ 
tion  (on  which  the  whole  fabric  of  high-churchism 
rests),  and  also  on  the  testimony  of  Syrian  and  Grecian 

*  Matt.,  rxiii.,  7.  t  Acts,  xx.,  17,  28. 

O  2 


162 


ANCIENT  POPULOUSNESS  OF 


writers  of  no  mean  authority,  had  a  bishop  who  enjoyed 
little  dignity,  or  no  prerogative  whatever,  down  to  the 
days  of  Justinian  in  the  sixth  century.* 

So  unseemly  a  blank  in  an  ordinary  pedigree,  even  if 
unassociated  with  others  of  a  kindred  sort,  might,  though 
unable  to  startle  a  Puseyite  or  a  monk,  baffle  a  master 
in  any  secular  chancery.  But  though  the  rightful  me¬ 
tropolis  of  Christendom  had  no  place  for  centuries 
among  archiepiscopal  or  metropolitan  cities,  and  though 
no  train  of  unholy  successors  pretended,  for  six  cen¬ 
turies,  to  follow  the  brother  of  the  Lord,  Antioch  had 
its  magnates  in  largely  compensating  numbers,  and  was 
long,  on  the  ecclesiastical  arena,  the  rival  of  Alexan¬ 
dria,  Constantinople,  and  Rome.  The  city  itself  boast¬ 
ed  of  its  three  hundred  and  sixty  churches.  Ben-Kiliseh^ 
the  hill  already  mentioned,  which  lies  between  it  and 
the  sea,  literally  signifies  the  thousand  churches^  from  the 
vast  number  with  which  it  was  adorned.  And  the  see 
of  Antioch,  bearing  the  name  of  apostolic,  exercised  au¬ 
thority  over  two  hundred  and  three  bishops,  besides 
eight  metropolitans,  twelve  archbishops,  and  twenty- 
five  principal  suffragans,  who  resided  in  two  hundred 
and  forty-eight  cities,  of  which  about  forty  lay  beyond 
the  bounds  of  the  promised  land.  Exclusive  of  these, 
attached  to  Tyre  were  thirteen  bishoprics  jf  to  Apamea, 
seven  to  Hierapolis,  eight  ;§  to  Bostra,  nineteen  ;||  to 
Seleucia,  twenty-four  jIF  to  Damascus,  ten  ;**  to  Ceesarea 
(on  the  coast),  nineteen  ;ff  to  Scythopolis,  nine  to 

*  Juxta  traditfones  veterum,  et  etiatn  quaedam  scripta  quse  auctoritatem  habent 
non  modicam  apud  Palestinos,  et  maxime  Grajcos,  Hierosolymitana  ecclesia  usque  ad 
tempora  Justiniani  sanctaj  recordationis  Augusti,  episcopum  habuit  nulla,  vel  modica 
dignitatis  prierogativa  gaudentum. — Will.  Tyr.,  Hist.,  lib.  xxiii.,  p.  1045,  104-9. 

t  Tyr  us,  13,  Porfirion,  Archis,  Ptolemais,  Sydon,  Sarepta,  Biblium,  Botrion, 
Orthosia,  Archados,  Antarados,  Paneas,  Araclis,  Tripolis. 

X  Apamea,  7,  Epiphania,  Seleucouila,  Larissa,  Valanea,  Mariam,  Raphania, 
Arethusa. 

^  Hierapolis,  8,  Zeuma,  Surron,  Varnalis,  Neocaesarea,  Perri,  Orimon,  Dolichi, 
Europi. 

II  Bostrum,  19,  Gerasson,  Philadelphia,  Adraon,  Midanon,  Austanidon,  Delinun- 
don,  Zozoyraa,  Herri,  Iceni,  Eucuni,  Constantia,  Paramboli,  Dionysia,  Conaachon, 
Maxirnopolis,  Philipolis,  Chrystojmlis,  Neilon,  Lorea. 

TT  Seleucia,  24,  Claudiopolis,  Diocaesarea,  Oropi,  Dalisanidos,  Seuila,  Kelende- 
ris,  Anemori,  Titopolis,  Lamos,  Antiochia  parva,  Hefelia,  Ristria,  Selenunta,  Yocopi, 
Philadelphia  parva,  Irinopolis,  Germaaicopolis,  Mobsea,  Demetiopolis,  Abidi,  Zmo- 
nopolis,  Adrasson,  Mynu,  Neapolis. 

**  Damascus,  10,  Albi,  Palmipou,  Laodicia,  Suria,  Konokora,  Yabruda,  Danabi, 
Karacena,  Hurdani,  Surraquini. 

ft  C.ESAREA  Maritima,  19,  Dora,  Antipatrida,  lampnias,  Nicopolis,  Onus,  Sos- 
curis,  Raphias,  Regium  Apatos,  Regium  Hierico,  Regiurn  Liuas,  Regium  Gadaron, 
Azotus  Paralias,  Asotusippum,  Estomason,  Estilion,  Tricoinias,  Toxtus,  Saltum, 
Constantiniaquis. 

Scythopolis,  9,  Capitoliados,  Miru,  Gadaru,  Pelos,  Vilisippus,  Tettacomiaa, 
Oluna,  Galanis,  Komanas. 


THE  PROMISED  LAND. 


163 


Rabba-Moab,  twelve;*  to  Bitira  of  Arabia,  thirty-five.f 
Besides  these,  forty-three  other  cities  were  occupied  by 
independent  metropolitans,  archbishops,  or  suffragans. 

Sadly  has  Syria  fallen,  when  the  recapitulation,  in  the 
text,  of  its  numerous  bishoprics  would  deprive  a  page 
of  all  interest,  and  leave  it  to  be  passed  over  unread,  by 
filling  it  with  their  long-forgotten  and  often  unknown 
names,  that  find  their  fitting  place,  like  those  of  pagan 
towns,  in  a  note  or  an  appendix,  and  that  serve  only, 
like  them,  to  point  to  ruins,  and  to  trace  a  resemblance 
in  sound  to  naught  but  desolate  localities  now,  where 
the  ruins  of  castellated  or  cathedral  cities,  covered  with 
wood  or  overgrown  with  thistles,  have  been  long  de¬ 
serted  by  dignitaries  and  tenanted  by  wild  beasts,  the 
literal  successors  to  many  a  proud  episcopal  throne. 
The  record  of  the  names  and  number  of  these  cities 
which  history  has  transmitted,  with  the  numberless  to¬ 
kens  of  their  fallen  greatness,  shows  how  Syria  could 
sustain  them  all,  while  its  own  covenanted  people,  scat¬ 
tered  among  the  nations,  as  if  their  wanderings  in  the 
desert  had  been  resumed,  had  not  a  city  to  dwell  in, 
nor  a  place  on  earth  whereon  to  rest  their  foot.  But  as 
it  is  not  without  cause  that  the  Lord  hath  done  all  that  He 
hath  done  to  them^  as  they  and  all  the  world  shall  know^ 
so  it  is  not  without  cause  that  Christian  as  well  as  Jew¬ 
ish  cities  have  fallen,  and  now  lie  in  mingled  ruins, 
from  end  to  end  and  from  side  to  side  of  that  land,  on 
which  the  eyes  of  the  Lord  have  been  set  for  judgment 
during  many  ages,  even  as  He  espied  it  for  the  people 
of  Israel  at  first,  and  planted  them  within  it  in  the  sight 
of  the  heathen.  The  ruins  of  these  cities,  wherever 
they  have  been  discovered,  and  yet  retain  memorials  of 

*  Rabba  Moabbitis,  ]2,  Augustopolis,  Arindila,  Kara,  Serapolis,  Mempsidos, 
Eulitis,  Zora,  Virosum,  Pentacomia,  Mamapson,  Mitroconeras,  Saltum  Hieraticum. 

t  Bitira  Arabia,  35,  Adrasson,  Dias,  Medauon,  Hierasson,  Nein,  Filadelfia, 
lerapolis,  Esmoss,  Neapolis,  Themistus,  Philipopulus,  Dionysia,  Constantinu,  Pen- 
tacomias,  Triconiias,  Canastados,  Saltum  Votanios,  Exacomias,  Enacomias,  Como- 
gonias,  Comogeros,  Comosthonis,  Comis,  Mahadaron,  Comocoreatas,  Comis  Capron, 
Comis  Insuauos,  Comis  Pirroareton,  Comis  Pecius,  Comis  Ariathon,  Comis  Neotis, 
Clima  Anatolis  Quevisinon,  Comis  Ariotas,  Comis  Trachonos,  Comis  Nesdamos. 

Metropolitan!,  7,  Deritus,  Heliopolis,  Laodicia,  Samosata,  Kyros,  Pompeiopolis, 
Mopsuestia. 

Archiepiscopi,  12,  Verea,  Kalquis,  Gabula,  Seleucia,  Piperia,  Anasarphon,  Pal- 
tos,  Germanicia,  Salamias,  Varcossos,  Fossos,  Anauagathon. 

Suffraganearum  Prima,  25,  Lidda,  Joppe,  Ascalon,  Gaza,  Meimas,  Diocletian 
opolis,  Beitt  Gerbein,  Neapolis,  Sebastia,  Jericyntus,  Tyberiadis,  Diociesarea,  Le- 
gionum,  Capitolina,  Mauronensis,  Gedera,  Nazareth,  Thabor,  Caracha  vel  Petra, 
Adroga,  Afra,  ^lis,  Faram,  Elinopolis,  Mons  Sina. — Will.  Tyr.,  Hist.,  lib.  ixiii., 
p.  1044-6. 


164 


ANCIENT  POPULOUSNESS  OF 


what  they  were,  bear  witness,  as  will  be  seen,  that  the 
judgments  that  have  come  upon  them  are  just  5  that  the 
Gospel  was  not  preached  in  them  as  Jesus  preached  it 
in  the  cities  of  Judah  and  of  Galilee  ;  and  that  the  les¬ 
son  which  He  taught  while  sitting  wearied,  and  ahun- 
gered,  and  athirst  on  the  well  of  Samaria,  was  forgotten 
in  the  land,  and  fountains  that  could  hold  no  water  were 
resorted  to  when  the  wellspring  of  life  was  forsaken. 
Men  forget  that  “God  is  a  spirit,  and  that  they  that 
worship  him  must  worship  him  in  spirit  and  in  truth.”* 
There,  as  in  other  lands,  the  apostacy  arose.  A  pure 
and  simple  faith  assumed  the  form  of  paganism.  Re¬ 
ligion  became  an  outward  show  instead  of  an  inward 
power.  The  pomp  of  ceremonies  was  evoked  anevv 
by  the  spirit  of  a  revived  paganism.  Where  the  apos¬ 
tles  left  their  nets  and  their  all  and  followed  Jesus, 
men  claiming  genealpgy  from  them  divided  the  land 
for  gcLin^\  and,  contrary  to  the  command  of  the  Au¬ 
thor  of  the  faith  which  they  professed,  exercised  lordship 
over  God’s  heritagfe.  The  church  that  was  called 
Christ’s,  unlike  to  his,  was  transmuted  into  a  kingdom 
of  this  world,  and  pagan  paraphernalia  took  the  name 
of  Christian  rites.  The  mystery  of  iniquity  which  began 
to  work  in  the  days  of  the  apostles — concerning  which 
many  in  our  own  day,  forgetful  what  then  began,  are 
proud  in  their  blindness,  and  glory  in  their  shame — was 
developed  more  and  more  till  transgression  came  to  the 
full,  and  judgment  could  no  longer  tarry.  And  the  wild 
sons  of  the  desert,  who  claimed  Abraham  for  their  fa¬ 
ther,  came  in  armed  myriads  at  the  predicted  word,  as 
by  an  appointed  sign,  to  avenge  the  quarrel  of  the  ever¬ 
lasting  covenant  on  a  race  that  were  not  their  brethren^ 
nor  in  any  sense  the  children  of  faithful  Abraham. 

As  Jeshurun  of  old  “  waxed  fat  and  kicked,”  and  a 
glorious  beauty  rested  on  the  fat  valley  of  Samaria, 
while  the  statutes  of  Omri  were  kept  till  judgment 
came,  so,  while  space  was  given  for  churches  called 
Christian  to  repent,  transgressions  were  multiplied  in 
the  land,  as  in  Israel  of  old,  and  luxury,  together  with 
iniquity,  had  reached  its  height,  when  the  long-slight¬ 
ed  curse  suddenly  and  fearfully  avenged  the  broken 
covenant.  More  direct  and  precise  testimony  than  that 

*  John,  iv.,  24.  t  Dan.,  xi.,  .39, 


THE  PROMISED  LAND. 


165 


of  an  enumeration  of  the  names  of  cities  is  still  farther 
in  store,  in  demonstration  of  that  excellence  of  Israel’s 
own  land,  which  gave  it  a  first  place  among  the  king¬ 
doms  or  provinces  of  the  Roman  Empire.  Subjugated 
by  the  mightiest  nations  of  the  earth,  it  has  been  per¬ 
manently  retained  by  none,  however  great  their  power 
or  high  their  pretensions,  even  though  descendants  of 
those  who  had  laid  Jerusalem  in  the  dust  and  subdued 
the  world,  and  the  professors  of  a  faith  which,  if  real, 
would  have  saved  its  numerous  cities  from  destruction. 

We  now  come  to  the  time  when  woes^  denounced  by 
that  very  name  in  the  Word  of  God,  fell  upon  apostate 
Christendom,  or  on  those  who  had  fallen  away  from  the 
faith  once  delivered  to  the  saints  ;  for  on  such  alone 
those  woes  could  fall,  which  were  to  touch  only  those 
men  who  had  not  the  seal  of  God  upon  their  foreheads.* 

When  Goths,  and  Vandals,  and  Huns  had  long  desola¬ 
ted  Italy,  and  a  “barbaric  king”  reigned  over  it,  Syria 
continued  to  be  one  of  the  fairest  provinces,  or  trib¬ 
utary  kingdoms  of  the  lower  empire  j  and  some  of  its 
regions  ranked  among  the  most  populous,  and  some  of 
its  cities  among  the  most  princely  in  the  world.  In 
describing  the  siege  of  Bosrah  on  the  east,  and  those  of 
Heliopolis  and  Homs  on  the  north  of  Palestine — but,  on 
either  side,  far  within  the  borders  of  Israel’s  destined 
heritage — Gibbon  incidentally  testifies  the  goodliness 
of  the  land,  as  it  existed  down  to  the  Saracenic  inva¬ 
sion,  in  the  seventh  century. 

“  One  of  the  fifteen  provinces  of  Syria,  the  cultiva¬ 
ted  lands  to  the  eastward  of  the  Jordan,  had  been  dec¬ 
orated  by  Roman  vanity  with  the  name  of  Arabia,  and 
the  first  arms  of  the  Saracens  were  justified  by  the  re¬ 
semblance  of  a  national  right.  The  country  was  en¬ 
riched  by  the  various  benefits  of  trade  ;  by  the  vigilance 
of  the  emperors  it  was  covered  by  a  line  of  forts ;  and 
the  populous  cities  of  Gerasa^  P hiladelphia^  and  Bosra 
were  secure  at  least  from  a  surprise,  by  the  solid  struc¬ 
ture  of  their  walls.  Twelve  thousand  horse  could  sally 
from  the  gates  of  Bosra. ’’f  “  Syria,  one  of  the  coun¬ 

tries  that  had  been  improved  by  the  most  early  culti¬ 
vation,  is  not  unworthy  of  the  preference.  The  heat 
of  the  climate  is  tempered  by  the  vicinity  of  the  sea 

*  Rev.,  ix.,  4.  t  Gibbon,  vol.  ix.,  p.  383,  384. 


166 


ANCIENT  POPULOUSNESS  OP 


and  mountains,  by  the  plenty  of  wood  and  water ;  and 
the  produce  of  a  fertile  soil  affords  the  subsistence, 
and  encourages  the  propagation  of  men  and  animals. 
From  the  age  of  David  to  that  of  Heraclius,  the  coun¬ 
try  was  overspread  with  ancient  and  flourishing  cities; 
the  inhabitants  were  numerous  and  wealthy  ;  and,  after 
the  slow  ravages  of  despotism  and  superstition,  after 
the  recent  calamities  of  the  Persian  war,  Syria  could 
still  attract  and  reward  the  rapacious  tribes  of  the 
desert.  Among  the  cities  which  are  enumerated  by 
Greek  and  Oriental  names  in  the  geography  and  con¬ 
quest  of  Syria,  we  may  distinguish  Emesa  or  Hems^  He¬ 
liopolis  or  Baalbec^  the  former  as  the  metropolis  of  the 
plain,  the  latter  as  the  capital  of  the  valley.  Under  the 
last  of  the  Ceesars,  they  were  strong  and  populous;  the 
turrets  glittered  from  afar;  an  ample  space  was  covered 
with  public  and  private  buildings  ;  and  the  citizens  were 
illustrious  by  their  spirit,  or  at  least  by  their  pride,  by 
their  riches,  or  at  least  by  their  luxury.”*  “  Chalcis 
alone  was  taxed  at  five  thousand  ounces  of  gold,  five 
thousand  ounces  of  silver,  two  thousand  robes  of  silk, 
and  as  many  figs  and  olives  as  would  load  five  thou¬ 
sand  asses.  The  terms  of  capitulation  were  faithfully 
observed.”!  “The  safety  of  Antioch  was  ransomed 
with  three  hundred  thousand  pieces  of  gold  ;  but  the 
throne  of  the  successors  of  Alexander,  the  seat  of  the 
Roman  government  in  the  East,  was  degraded  under  the 
yoke  of  the  caliphs  to  the  secondary  rank  of  a  provin¬ 
cial  town.  Bosra,  Damascus^  Heliopolis^  Emesa^  Jeru¬ 
salem^  Aleppo,  Antioch,  fell  successively  into  the  hands 
of  the  Saracens.  From  the  north  and  south  the  troops 
of  Antioch  and  Jerusalem  advanced  along  the  seashore, 
till  their  banners  were  joined  under  the  walls  of  the  Bhce- 
nician  cities :  Tripoli  and  Tyre  w^ere  betrayed.  Their 
labours  were  terminated  by  the  unexpected  surrender 
of  CsBsarea.  The  remainder  of  the  province,  Ramlah, 
Ptolemais  or  Acre,  Sichem  or  JTeapolis,  Gaza,  Ascalon, 
Berytus,  Sidon,  Gabala,  Laodicea,  Apamea,  Hierapolis,  no 
longer  presumed  to  dispute  the  will  of  the  conqueror ; 
and  Syria  bowed  under  the  sceptre  of  the  caliphs, ”{  &c. 

The  Saracens  formed  the  first  wo — not  the  last — that 


*  Gibbon,  vol.  ix.,  p.  403-405. 
t  Gibbon’s  Hist.,  chap,  li.,  passim. 


t  Ibid.,  p.  407. 


THE  PROMISED  LAND. 


167 


came  on  idolatrous  Christendom.  On  their  invasion  of 
the  Roman  Empire,  Jerusalem  was  rather  to  be  given 
unto  the,  Gentiles  than  rescued  from  them.  Ages  were 
thereafter  to  intervene  before  the  land  should  reach  the 
last  degree  of  predicted  desolation.  The  judgments  of 
the  Lord  were  to  be  executed  in  it  on  those  who  had 
anew  profaned  it  by  their  idolatries.  But  while  this 
charge  was  given  to  the  Saracens,  which,  as  all  students 
of  prophecy  well  know,  they  failed  not  to  execute,  a 
prohibition  was  simultaneously  written  in  the  book  of 
the  Lord,  and  as  simultaneously  issued  in  the  appointed 
time,  against  laying  the  land  desolate ;  and  stripped  as 
it  would  finally  be,  like  an  oak  that  had  cast  its  leaves, 
not  a  tree  or  green  thing  was  then  to  be  hurt.  It  was 
commanded  them  that  they  should  not  hurt  the  grass  of  the 
earth,,  neither  any  green  thing,,  neither  a7iy  tree,  but  only 
those  men  that  had  not  the  seal  of  God  on  their  foreheads* 
The  unconscious  “commander  of  the  faithful”  thus  is¬ 
sued  his  instructions  accordingly  to  the  chiefs  of  the 
Syrian  army.  “  When  you  fight  the  battles  of  the  Lord, 
acquit  yourselves  like  men,  without  turning  your  backs  ; 
but  let  not  your  victory  be  stained  with  the  blood  of 
women  and  children.  Destroy  no  palm-trees,  nor  burn 
any  fields  of  corn.  Cut  down  no  fruit-trees,  nor  do  any 
mischief  to  cattle,  only  such  as  you  kill  to  eat.  When 
you  make  any  covenant  or  article,  stand  to  it,  and  be  as 
good  as  your  word.  As  you  go  on,  you  will  find  some 
religious  persons,  who  live  retired  in  monasteries  j  let 
them  alone,  and  neither  kill  them,  nor  destroy  their 
monasteries ;  and  you  will  find  another  sort  of  people 
that  belong  to  the  synagogue  of  Satan,  who  have  shorn 
crowns  j  be  sure  you  cleave  their  sculls,  and  give  them 
no  quarter  till  they  either  turn  Mohammedans  or  pay 
tribute.”! 

“The  rapacious  tribes  of  the  desert”  made  Syria 
their  own,  and  richly  was  their  conquest  rewarded. 
Notwithstanding  “  the  slow  ravages  of  despotism  and 
superstition,”  and  its  subjugation  to  the  Persians,  to 
whom  for  fourteen  years  it  had  been  given  for  a  prey, 
till  reconquered  by  Heraclius,  Syria  could  still  boast  of 
its  numerous  cities,  and  its  fertile  soil  sustained  a  vast 
population.  Five  thousand  ass-loads  (proverbially  great) 

*  Rev.,  ix..  4.  t  Gibbon’s  Hist.,  vol.  ix.,  p.  381. 


168 


ANCIENT  POPULOUSNESS,  ETC. 


of  figs  and  olives,  necessarily  the  produce  of  a  single  year, 
gave  proof,  as  part  of  the  tax  imposed  upon  one  city,  that 
the  combined  excellence  of  climate  and  soil  were  not  then 
lost  upon  man,  and  that  the  circumjacent  region  might  lay 
claim  to  be  a  portion  of  a  land  where  every  man  might  sit 
under  his  own  fig-tree,  and  the  lords  of  which,  in  the  ex¬ 
pressive  language  of  Scripture,  might  “  dip  their  feet  in  oil.” 

Edifices  of  Saracenic  structure,  scattered  over  Syria, 
show  that  these  invaders,  like  the  Romans,  sought  to  per¬ 
petuate  their  conquest,  and  made  it  their  work  to  build  rath¬ 
er  than  destroy.  But  these  were  chiefly  mosques  or  castles, 
the  former  displacing  churches,  the  latter  for  repressing  the 
inhabitants,  as  well  as  resisting  foreign  foes.  “  The  tribute, 
the  Koran,  or  the  sword,”  were  not  the  heralds  of  prosperi¬ 
ty  and  peace.  Syria  faded  rather  than  flourished  under  the 
dominion  of  those  “  hordes  of  fanatics  that  issued  from  the 
desert,”  and  whose  office  it  was  to  torment  rather  than  to 
destroy. 

The  promised  land  was  to  be  given  only  for  a  limited  pe¬ 
riod  to  any  alien  race,  while  its  ancient  inhabitants  were 
scattered  abroad.  The  Arabs,  like  the  Romans,  claimed  it 
by  right  of  conquest  as  their  own.  But  though  they  appoint¬ 
ed  the  land^  which  the  Lord  called  His,  into  their  possession 
with  the  joy  of  all  their  heart,  and  shall  still  strive  to  regain  or 
retain  it,  as  they  first  won  it  by  the  sword  ;  and  though  they 
said,  while  the  stronghold  of  Zion  was  in  their  hands,  and 
Saracen  fortresses  towered  throughout  the  land  on  the  heights 
of  Israel,  even  the  high  places  are  ours  in  possession,  yet  they 
were  there  only  to  execute  judgments,  as  the  temporary 
tenants  of  a  land  that  was  not  theirs.  Their  possession  of 
it  was  not  unchallenged  or  undisturbed.  After  its  subjuga¬ 
tion  to  them,  Judea  “  ceased  not  to  be  the  scene  of  grand 
revolutions.”"^  The  victors  becoming  successively  the  van¬ 
quished,  it  was  in  after  ages  the  contested  territory  of  Sara¬ 
cens,  Persians,  Turks,  Egyptians,  and  Fatimites,  till,  in  still 
more  bloody  warfare  between  Christians  and  Mohamme¬ 
dans,  it  became,  as  described  by  Gibbon,  “  the  theatre  of  na¬ 
tions,”  where  the  tragedy  of  the  crusades  was  enacted — the 
battle-field  of  Europe,  Asia,  and  Africa.  The  land  which 
men  called  Christians  sought  to  redeem,  by  a  phrensy  that 
matched  the  fierce  fanaticism  of  Moslems,  was  thereby 
smitten  with  another  curse. 

*  D’Herbelot,  Bibliotheque  Orientate,  p.  260. 


SKETCH  OP  THE  HISTORY  OF  SYRIA,  ETC. 


169 


CHAPTER  IV. 

SKETCH  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  SYRIA  IN  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

“  I  will  give  it  unto  the  hands  of  the  strangers  for  a  prey,  and  to  the  wicked  of  the 
earth  for  a  spoil ;  and  they  shall  pollute  it.” — Ezek.,  vii.,  21. 

“  Thou  land  devourest  up  men,  and  hast  bejeaved  thy  nations.”— Ezefe.,  xxxvi.,  13. 

Syria,  peopled  by  conflicting  races,  could  scarcely  be 
said  to  repose  under  the  dominion  of  the  caliphs.  It  was 
at  best,  as  under  the  Romans,  a  subjugated  country,  a  prey 
and  a  spoil  to  strangers,^  The  comparatively  quiescent 
state  which  succeeded  to  its  conquest,  was  soon,  from  vari¬ 
ous  causes,  disturbed  anew  ;  and  this  prophecy,  together 
with  many  others,  ever  meets  with  renewed  illustrations  in 
all  its  history,  while  it  was  given,  age  after  age,  to  the  wick¬ 
ed  for  a  prey,  the  sword  of  the  Lord  shall  devour  from  the 
one  end  of  the  land  even  to  the  other  end  of  the  land  ;  no  fie sh 
shall  have  peace. \  Even  the  subjugated  Christians  soon 
persecuted  each  other.  The  general  council  of  Constanti¬ 
nople  (A.D.  681)  condemned  the  Maronites  ;  and,  chased 
from  the  greater  part  of  the  cities  of  Syria,  they  betook 
themselves  to  the  mountains  of  Lebanon  and  Anti-Lebanon. J 
In  a  few  years  after,  Syria  was  the  scene  of  fierce  contests 
between  Ali  the  cousin  and  son-in-law  of  Mohammed,  and 
Moaviah,  the  caliph  of  the  Ommiades,  whose  cause  the  Syr¬ 
ians  espoused. §  Profiting  by  their  divisions  and  mutual  con¬ 
flicts,  the  Maronites  descended  from  their  mountains,  and 
ravaged  all  the  land  from  the  extremity  of  Lebanon  to  the 
vicinity  of  Jerusalem. |[  The  termination  of  the  dynasty  of 
the  Ommiades,  and  the  commencement  of  that  of  the  Abas- 
sides,  was  marked  by  great  earthquakes,  which  overthrew 
a  great  number  of  churches  and  monasteries  beyond  the 
Jordan  and  throughout  Syria,  and  the  violent  and  frequent 
shocks  destroyed  many  cities.^!  The  death  of  Haroun-al- 
Raschid  (A.D.  808)  plunged  Syria  into  new  calamities. 
While  his  sons  disputed  for  the  empire,  various  usurpers 

invaded  and  ravaged  Syria.  Eleutheropolis^  the  capital  of 

/ 

*  Ezek.,  vii.,  21.  t  Jer.,  xii.,  12. 

t  Herbelot,  Biblioth6que  Orientale,  p.  557.  ^  Ibid.,  p.  90-93,  588,  9. 

il  Guene,  Lettres,  M6m.  de  Litt6rature,  tom.  iii.,  p.  318.  Ibid.,  p.  319. 


170 


SKETCH  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  SYRIA 


Idumea,  was  destroyed,  and  that  flourishing  city  never  re¬ 
covered  from  its  overthrow.  Ascalon,  Gaza,  Sariphea,  and 
many  other  cities  were  pillaged,  and  the  barbarians  spread 
everywhere  desolation  and  terror.  These  troubles  contin¬ 
ued  till  towards  the  close  of  the  ninth  century  ;  the  caliph¬ 
ate  of  Bagdad  itself  began  to  be  shaken  by  the  insurrection¬ 
ary  Turks  ;  and  when  the  Saracenic  Empire  was  dismem¬ 
bered,  Syria  was  convulsed.* 

The  Arabs  have  never  ceased,  by  predatory  inroads  or 
forced  possession,  to  devour  the  land  over  which  they  could 
no  longer  solely  domineer,  and  they  did  not  suffer  so  fair  a 
region  to  be  wrested  from  their  grasp  without  repeated  des¬ 
olating  wars.  Rut  the  energy  of  their  empire  had  departed, 
and  Syria  could  no  longer  be  retained.  The  Thoulounid 
Turks,  first  slaves,  then  masters,  having  obtained  in  Egypt 
all  of  sovereignty  but  the  name,  Syria  became  the  scene 
.  of  their  warfare  with  the  caliphs.  Ahmet,  ruling  uncon¬ 
trolled  in  Egypt,  like  a  modern  despot,  passed  (A.D.  874) 
from  thence  as  a  conqueror  to  the  farthest  bounds  of  Syria, 
and  subjected  to  his  sway  Damascus,  Hamah,  Aleppo,  and 
AntiockA  His  conquests  were  rapidly  succeeded  by  re¬ 
newed  and  incessant  contests  for  the  revenue  and  sover¬ 
eignty  of  Syria. A  meteor-domination,  blazing,  blasting, 
and  dying  away,  was  then  the  form  that  despotism  assumed, 
while  at  intervals  the  smouldering  ashes  of  the  caliphate 
sent  forth  their  scorching  gleams.  Whenever  the  Turkish 
supremacy  began,  the  government  of  cities  and  territories 
was  bartered  for  gold.  For  that  of  Kinnesrin  and  Aouasem, 
four  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  pieces  of  gold  annually  were 
offered  by  Haroun,  and  accepted,  at  a  time  when  it  could 
be  maintained  only  by  the  Turkish  cimeter,  and  the  posses¬ 
sion  of  it  was  insecure  for  a  single  year. 

In  the  first  year  of  the  tenth  century  anew  cause  of  com¬ 
motion  arose  in  that  troubled  and  distracted  land ;  and  for  a 
time  it  seemed  as  if  Mohammed  himself  was  about  to  be 
superseded  by  Caramath,  another  warlike  prophet,  “  whose 
creed  overturned  all  the  foundations  of  Mohammedanism.”^ 

*  Guene,  Lettres,  M6in.  de  Litt6rature,  tom.  iii.,  p.  320,  321. 

t  Histoire  G6n6rale  des  Huns,  des  Turcs,  <fec.,  par  De  Guignes,  tom.  ii.,  p.  131, 
132.  Ahmed  amassed  immense  treasures,  which  he  left  to  his  children,  viz.,  a  mill¬ 
ion  of  pieces  of  gold,  seven  thousand  slaves,  a  vast  number  of  horses,  mules,  camels, 
&c.  In  his  time  the  revenue  of  Egypt  amounted  to  three  hundred  millions  of  pieces 
of  gold. — Ibid.,  p.  135. 

t  Histoire  G^n^rale  des  Huns,  des  Turcs,  &c.,  par  De  Guignes,  tom.  ii.,  p.  135- 
141.  <)  D’Herbelot,  B’blioth^que  Orientale,  p.  256 


ft 


DURING  THE  MIDDLE  AGES.  171 

The  new  faith  which  called  its  votaries  to  war,  originating 
in  Chaldea,  speedily  overspread  Syria  and  the  neighbouring 
provinces.  The  greatest  efforts  of  the  Carmathians  were 
directed  against  Syria.  They  defeated  the  forces  of  the 
garrison  of  Damascus  in  several  encounters,  and  besieged 
that  city.  Haroun  advanced  to  the  rescue,  and  slew  the 
chief  of  the  Carmathians  in  a  battle  in  which  about  twenty 
thousand  fell.  So  rapid  had  been  the  growth  of  the  new¬ 
born  faith,  that  it  sustained  the  shock.  The  discomfited  but 
resolute  fanatics  having  retired  to  Emesa,  and  recruited 
their  strength  and  redoubled  their  numbers,  subjected  Syria 
to  a  second  and  more  disastrous  warfare,  laid  Damascus 
under  contribution,  and  ravaged  the  environs  of  Hamah, 
Maarali,  and  Baalbec.  The  inhabitants  of  Salamia  resisted 
and  repelled  them ;  but  on  their  returning  with  renewed 
impetuosity  to  the  charge,  they  capitulated  and  opened  their 
gates,  when  the  savage  conquerors  put  them  all  to  an  indis¬ 
criminate  slaughter,  without  distinction  of  age  or  sex  ;  and 
after  such  a  sacrifice,  their  chief,  assuming  the  title  of  Ma- 
hadi-Emir-el-Moumianin,  ordered  public  prayers  to  be  made 
in  his  name.*' 

The  caliph,  courageous  to  combat  a  fallen  foe,  seized  the 
opportunity  which  their  feebleness  afforded,  of  striving,  by 
a  powerful  effort,  to  destroy  the  Thoulounid  Turks,  and  by 
subverting  their  dominion,  to  restore  that  of  the  Abassides. 
The  ill-fated  Damascus  was  again  a  prey.  Palestine  be¬ 
came  the  scene  of  contest  for  deciding  the  sovereignty  of 
rival  caliphs.  But  the  first  short-lived  Turkish  dynasty  in 
Egypt  was  speedily  destroyed  (A.D.  905),  and  Syria  again 
owned  the  Arab  as  its  master. f 

In  extinguishing  the  power  of  his  antagonist,  the  caliph 
exhausted  his  own.  “  The  provinces  of  the  Saracenic  Em¬ 
pire  became  the  prey  of  numerous  petty  sovereigns.”  Syria 
was  ravaged  by  the  Carmathians.  A  new  dynasty  arose, 
that  of  the  Ikhschid  Turks,  of  which  Abou-Bekr-Moham- 
med  was  the  founder,  who  subdued  Syria  by  his  influence 
and  his  arms.  The  feeble  caliph  (A.D.  935)  abandoned 
the  country  which  he  could  no  longer  either  reconquer  or 
rule. I  The  power  that  constitutes  the  second  wo  has  been 
more  fortunate  than  that  which  formed  the  first.  No  Chris¬ 
tian  arm  was  raised  to  save  Syria  for  the  caliph.  The 
cause  of  the  difference  may,  at  no  distant  day,  be  obvious. 

*  De  Guignes,  tom.  ii.,  p.  145,  146.  t  Ibid.,  p.  146,  147.  t  Ibid.,  p.  147,  148. 


172 


SKETCH  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  SYRIA 


The  second  wo  arose  beyond  the  bounds  of  Christendom, 
while  many  of  the  elements  of  the  third  have  to  be  gathered 
from  within  it — and  a  preparatory  work  has  to  be  done  by 
the  kings  of  the  earth — before  the  greatest  and  last  of  bat¬ 
tles  shall  be  fought  on  the  plains  of  Palestine. 

Syria  was  soon  torn  again  by  rival  aspirants  to  unchal¬ 
lenged  sovereignty  over  it,  and  was  divided  for  a  time  be¬ 
tween  the  governor  of  Damascus  and  the  ruler  of  Egypt ; 
and  when  the  former  was  slain,  the  latter  retook  Damascus 
and  other  cities,  and  the  subjugated  land  of  Israel,  ransom¬ 
ed  from  the  fetters  of  Bagdad,  was  smitten  with  the  rod  of 
Egypt,  wielded  by  a  Turk  (A.D.  942).* 

But  the  land  had  no  rest  from  war.  The  Hamadanites, 
an  Arab  dynasty,  contented  with  that  of  the  Ikhschidites  for 
its  possession.  They  invaded  Syria,  took  Aleppo^  gained  a 
battle  between  Sarmin  and  Maarah,  and  besieged  Damas¬ 
cus  ;  but,  after  various  encounters  and  battles  at  Rostan, 
Hamah,  and  Kinnesrin,  the  peace  of  Syria  seemed  to  be 
consolidated  by  the  marriage  of  the  son  and  daughter  of  the 
riv'al  princes,  whose  fierce  combats  led  not  to  the  entire 
overthrow  of  either.  The  land  and  the  cities  suffered  from 
both,  and  the  hope  of  peace  was  delusive,  for  the  war  was 
soon  renewed,  and  Aleppo  retaken.f  Ikhschid’s  death,  in¬ 
stead  of  healing  the  troubles  of  an  agitated  county,  introdu¬ 
ced  still  greater,  and  made  Syria  again  a  prize  for  com¬ 
batants. 

So  ephemeral  is  the  greatness,  and  so  vain  the  glory  of 
man,  that  Ikhschid’s  name  may  now  seem  that  of  an  un¬ 
known  man,  unworthy  of  a  place  in  history.  Yet  his  was 
a  power  greater  than  that  of  a  modern  lord  of  Egypt  who 
has  filled  the  world  with  his  fame.  A  Turkish  dynasty 
then,  in  the  beginning  of  the  days  of  their  pride,  was  not  to 
be  measured  by  that  of  the  sultan  now,  in  those  of  their  de¬ 
cline.  The  Caliph  of  Egypt  mustered  in  his  armies  four 
hundred  thousand  men  ;  and  far  mightier  hosts  contended 
for  the  possession  of  Syria  in  the  ninth,  as  for  hundreds  of 
years  thereafter,  than  heretofore  in  the  nineteenth  century. 
He  could  then  trample  upon  Christians,  and  provoke  Eu¬ 
rope  to  war.  His  persecutions  and  exactions,  which  brought 
church  goods  to  the  hammer, J  presenting  an  example  which 
successive  conquerors  were  not  slack  to  follow,  prepared 

*  De  Guignes,  tom.  ii.,  p.  149.  t  Ibid.,  p.  150,  151.  %  Ibid.,  p.  152. 


\  DURING  THE  MIDDLE  AGES.  173 

the  way  for  those  unparalleled  and  continuous  wars  of  which 
Syria  was  for  centuries  the  scene. 

His  demise  roused  the  Carmathians,  invigorated  again 
with  the  hopes  of  conquest.  Ramlah  was  the  field  of  an¬ 
other  battle  ;  Damascus  was  retaken  by  the  victorious  Turks. 
New  enemies  arose.  A  large  army  of  Greeks,  under  Ni- 
cephorus,  entered  Syria.  They  who  before  were  contending 
for  the  prey,  combined  against  the  assailants  who  sought  to 
seize  it  from  them  all,  and  to  restore  the  days  of  Roman 
despotism  (A.D.  965). 

Nicephorus  and  John  Zimisces,  “  the  two  heroes  of  the 
age,  forced  and  secured  the  narrow  passes  of  Mount  Ama- 
nus,  and  carried  their  arms  into  the  heart  of  Syria.”  An¬ 
tioch  was  taken  by  surprise.  “  The  first  tumult  of  slaugh¬ 
ter  and  rapine  subsided ;  and  the  efforts  of  a  hundred 
thousand  Saracens,  of  the  armies  of  Syria  and  the  fleets  of 
Africa,  were  consumed  without  effect  before  the  walls  of 
Antioch.  The  royal  city  of  Aleppo  was  subject  to  Seifed- 
donlat,  of  the  dynasty  of  Hamadan,  whose  precipitate  re¬ 
treat  abandoned  his  kingdom  and  capital  to  the  Roman  in¬ 
vaders.  In  his  stately  palace,  that  stood  without  the  wall 
of  Aleppo,  they  joyfully  seized  a  well-furnished  magazine  of 
arms,  a  stable  of  fourteen  hundred  mules,  and  three  hundred 
bags  of  silver  and  gold.  But  the  walls  of  the  city  withstood 
the  strokes  of  their  battering-rams,  and  the  besiegers  pitched 
their  tents  on  the  neighbouring  mountain  of  Jaushan.  Their 
retreat  exasperated  the  quarrel  of  the  townsmen  and  mercena¬ 
ries  ;  the  guard  of  the  gates  and  ramparts  was  deserted  ;  and 
while  they  furiously  charged  each  other  in  the  market-place, 
they  were  surprised  and  destroyed  by  the  sword  of  a  com¬ 
mon  enemy.  The  male  sex  was  exterminated  by  the  sword  ; 
ten  thousand  youths  were  led  into  captivity ;  the  weight 
of  the  precious  spoil  exceeded  the  strength  and  number  of 
the  beasts  of  burden ;  the  superfluous  remainder  was  burn¬ 
ed  ;  and,  after  a  licentious  possession  of  ten  days,  the  Ro¬ 
mans  marched  away  from  the  naked  and  bleeding  city.  In 
their  Syrian  inroads,  they  commanded  the  husbandmen  to 
cultivate  their  lands,  that  they  themselves,  in  the  ensuing 
season,  might  reap  the  benefit.  More  than  a  hundred  cities 
were  reduced  to  obedience  ;  and  eighteen  pulpits  of  the 
principal  mosques  were  committed  to  the  flames,  to  expiate 
the  sacrilege  of  the  disciples  of  Mohammed.  The  classic 
names  of  Hierapolis,  Ajpamea,  and  Emesa  revive  for  a  mo- 

P  2 


174 


SKETCH  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  SYRfA 


ment  in  the  list  of  conquests :  the  Emperor  Zimisces  en¬ 
camped  in  the  paradise  of  Damascus,  and  accepted  the  ran¬ 
som  of  a  buomissive  people  ;  and  the  torrent  was  only  stop¬ 
ped  by  the  impregnable  fortress  of  Tripoli^  on  the  seacoast 
of  Phoenicia.”* 

But  the  time  had  gone  by  in  which  Roman  or  Grecian 
despotism  could  permanently  resume  the  mastery  of  Syria. 
“The  powers  of  the  East,”  says  Gibbon,  “  had  been  bent, 
not  broken,  by  the  transient  hurricane.”  The  Roman  con¬ 
querors  retired  or  were  driven  beyond  the  Taurus,  and  their 
combined  foes  became  mutual  combatants  again  ;  for  when, 
in  the  following  year,  a  youth  of  eleven  years  of  age  occu- 
pied  the  seat  of  the  Egyptian  caliphs,  his  troops  overran 
and  obtained  the  mastery  of  Syria,  they  were  speedily  rout¬ 
ed  and  chased  from  thence  ;  but,  on  returning  with  increas¬ 
ed  numbers  to  repel  its  rebellious  inhabitants,  they  had  no 
sooner  subjugated  them  anew  than  they  were  encountered 
and  overthrown  by  mightier  foes.  While  in  Egypt  and 
Syria  dynasty  after  dynasty  rose  and  fell,  that  of  the  Thou- 
lounid  Turks  in  thirty-seven  years  (from  A.D.  868  to  905), 
and  that  of  the  Ikhschidite  Turks  in  a  shorter  period  (A.D. 
935  to  969),  Mahadi  Abdallah,  a  descendant  of  Phatime,  the 
daughter  of  Mohammed,  laid  in  Africa  the  foundations  of  a 
powerful  empire  ;  the  fate  of  Syria  was  decided  in  a  suc¬ 
cession  of  battles  at  Ramlah  ;  it  was  constrained  to  yield  to 
other  spoliators  ;  the  kingdom  of  the  Ikhschidites  was  over¬ 
thrown,  and  that  of  the  Phatimites  established.! 

Their  domination  over  Syria  was  subverted  by  that  of 
Malek  Schah,  the  third  sultan  of  the  Seljoucid  Turks,  whose 
kingdom  extended  to  the  frontier  of  China.  But,  mighty 
conqueror  as  he  was,  like  his  father,  Alp-Arslan,  the  con¬ 
quest  of  Syria  was  no  easy  task.  Bent  on  the  destruction 
of  the  Phatimites,  he  first  sent  into  that  land  a  powerful 
army,  under  the  command  of  his  cousin  Solyman,  in  order 
to  reduce  it  to  his  obedience.  After  a  long  siege,  reduced 
to  famime,  Damascus  surrendered.  Emesa,  and  a  great 
part  of  Syria,  as  far  as  Antioch,  yielded  to  his  power ;  but, 
having  penetrated  into  Egypt,  his  army  was  repelled  from 
thence,  and,  returning  to  Syria,  ravaged  it  anew,  and  pillaged 
Jerusalem.X  Contending  armies  flocked  to  the  land  of  Is¬ 
rael,  the  scene  of  a  renewed  warfare,  in  which  not  its  fate 

*  Gibbon’s  Hist.,  x.,  p.  88-91.  t  De  Gulgues,  tom.  ii.,  p.  152-154.  Herbelot. 

t  Ibid.,  p.  216. 


DURING  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 


175 


alone,  but  that  of  powerful  rival  dynasties,  was  decided. 
The  war  was  carried  on  throughout  all  parts  of  Syria.  The 
King  of  Moussul  besieged  Aleppo*  The  brother  having 
followed  the  cousin  of  Malek  Schah  at  the  head  of  Turkish 
armies,  the  severity  of  the  contest  demanded  the  presence 
of  that  monarch  himself  to  achieve  the  conquest  of  Syria. 
The  prey  of  the  Phaiimites  for  a  hundred  years  was  torn 
from  their  grasp.  It  might  seem  that  when  a  mighty  con¬ 
queror  won  it,  its  possession  would  have  been  secure  for 
ages  ;  but  no  sooner  had  it  fallen  into  the  hands  of  the  Sel- 
joucian  princes  than  they  warred  with  one  another,  and 
Syria  resumed  its  wonted  character  of  a  kingdom  divided 
against  itself.  But  its  past  wars  were  as  petty  enterprises, 
when  the  time  was  come  in  which,  more  than  ever  on  any 
spot  on  earth,  Syria  was  the  arena  of  conflicts  in  which  all 
the  world  took  part,  and  the  prize  for  which  it  fought. 

“  Destruction  upon  destruction  is  cried,”  said  the  prophet 
concerning  the  land  of  Israel,  and  its  history  is  a  continued 
echo  to  the  cry.  The  experiment  has  been  tried,  and  need 
not  be  repealed,  whether  nations  called  Christian  can  estab¬ 
lish  “  the  kingdom  of  Jerusalem”  while  the  Jews  are  not 
there,  and  any  other  throne  than  that  of  the  Son  of  David 
set  up. 

From  the  days  of  Alexander  the  Great,  the  dynasties  of 
Seleucus  and  Ptolemy,  in  Assyria  and  Egypt,  alternately 
lorded  over  Palestine,  though  the  tribe  of  Judah  continued 
unbroken.  On  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem  by  the  Romans, 
their  supremacy  was  undisputed,  and  Syria  was  a  province 
of  the  empire  till  the  Arabs  of  the  desert  subdued  the  de¬ 
generate  sons  of  the  conquerors  of  the  world.  In  a  brief 
space,  whenever  the  dismemberment  of  the  Saracenic  Em¬ 
pire  began,  hordes  of  spoliators  flocked  successively,  and 
sometimes  simultaneously,  under  chiefs  aspiring  to  its  sov¬ 
ereignty,  from  all  the  surrounding  countries.  But  a  new' 
era  in  its  history,  unique  in  that  of  the  world,  commenced 
with  the  Crusades. 

The  siege  of  Antiocht  (A.D.  1098)  was  the  first  grand 
essay  of  the  Crusaders  within  the  bounds  of  the  patrimonial 
inheritance  of  Israel.  A  brief  notice  of  the  siege  may  con- 

*  De  Guignes,  tom.  ii.,  p.  217. 

t  Willermi  Tyrensis,  Archiep.  Hist.,  p.  686-727.  De  Guignes’  Hist.,  tom.  iii., 
p.  85,  &c. 


176 


SKETCH  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  SYRIA 


vey  some  idea  of  the  wars  in  Syria  which  then  began. 
Antioch,  at  the  close  of  the  tenth  century,  was  a  glorious 
and  noble  city,  the  third,  if  not  the  second,  in  greatness  and 
rank,  after  Rome,  being  esteemed  by  many  superior  to  Al¬ 
exandria.*  A  few  years  previous  to  its  siege,  the  greater 
part  of  the  walls  had  been  thrown  down  by  an  earthquake  ; 
but  the  time  was  not  come  in  which  they  were  suffered  to 
lie  for  many  days,  as  now  for  many  ages,  in  ruins.  For 
seven  months  it  defied  all  the  power  and  art  of  hosts  of  cru¬ 
saders,  headed  by  many  valiant  knights  of  Europe  ;  and 
though  reduced  to  famine,  it  was  taken  by  stratagem  rather 
than  by  force.  The  merciless  conquerors  disgraced  the 
Christian  name  alike  by  the  gross  immoralities  practised 
during  the  siege,  befitting  the  votaries  of  Apollo,  but  mon¬ 
strous  in  the  reputed  followers  of  the  cross,  and  by  the  sav¬ 
age  atrocities  committed  in  the  day  of  their  stolen  triumph. 
The  city  w^as  given  for  a  prey.  The  Archbishop  of  Tyre, 
the  chief  historian  of  the  Crusades,  confesses  that  the  pillage 
was  universal  and  the  slaughter  indiscriminate,  while  the 
shrieks  of  the  women  were  everywhere  heard  amid  the  pre¬ 
vailing  carnage,  and  that  in  one  day  ten  thousand  citizens 
were  slain,  whose  unburied  bodies  covered  the  highways. 
The  houses  of  the  rich  were  first  sought  out,  broken  open, 
and  pillaged  by  bands  of  the  Crusaders.  Fathers,  mothers, 
children,  and  servants  were  put  to  the  sword.  Vases,  gold, 
silver,  costly  vestures,  &:c.,  were  seized  and  shared  by  the 
rapacious  and  murderous  conquerors. f  Other  historians 
relate  that  in  the  sack  of  the  city  a  hundred  thousand  per» 
ished,  and  that  the  captured  treasures  were  immense. ;|: 
The  city  taken  became  speedily  again  like  a  besieged  city, 
within  which  its  victors  were  shut  up.  But  their  fanatical 
courage,  roused  by  the  reputed  discovery  of  the  lance  that 
pierced  the  side  of  Christ,  bore  them  victorious  through  a 
fierce  battle,  fought  with  a  vast  army  of  Persians  who  had 
come  too  tardily,  and  all  in  vain,  to  the  rescue  of  Antioch. 
The  gold  and  silver  taken  in  the  spoil  w'ere  converted  into 
candlesticks,  crosses,  chalices,  priestly  vestments,  and  other 
church  utensils.  The  altars  that  the  Moslems  had  thrown 
dow^n  were  re  erected  ;  the  images  were  restored,  and  when 
fractured,  renewed  ;  the  patriarchate  of  Antioch  was  re-es¬ 
tablished,  in  all  the  plenitude  of  pontifical  authority.  After 

t  Ibid.,  p.  711. 

Will.  Tyr.,  p.  727. 


*  Will.  Tyr.,  p.  686. 
t  I>0  Guignes,  ibid.,  p.  93. 


DURING  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 


177 


the  immolation  of  thousands  of  victims  and  the  sack  of  one 
of  the  richest  cities  in  the  world,  the  church  began  to  reap 
the  secular  fruits  of  the  secular  war  it  had  provoked,  to 
which  it  were  profanation  to  give  the  name  of  holy ;  and 
as  many  a  churchman  bore  lance  in  the  tented  field,  bishop¬ 
rics  were  speedily  established  throughout  the  neighbouring 
cities  which  had  been  wont  to  hold  a  cathedral  dignity. 
Such  was  the  nature,  and  such  were  some  of  the  results  of 
the  first  conquest  in  Syria,  so  soon  as  the  Crusaders  were 
established  in  that  city,  where  men  of  the  purest  morals  and 
of  the  most  peaceful  habits,  the  children  of  a  kingdom  not 
of  this  world,  in  whose  hearts  Jesus  reigned,  and  who  pro¬ 
fessed  the  faith  as  it  is  in  Him  in  all  its  simplicity,  were 
first  called  Christians. 

A  summary  the  most  succinct  may  be  given  of  the  cru¬ 
sading  wars  within  the  bounds  of  Syria,  as  they  bore  most 
disastrously  on  its  state ;  and  as  they  illustrate  what  was 
the  strength  of  its  cities,  from  the  sieges  they  withstood, 
how  goodly  was  the  prize  for  which  Christendom  and  Mo¬ 
hammedanism  contended  for  ages — how  the  cause  of  the 
desolation  of  so  many  cities  may  be  patent  to  the  world — 
how  strangers  devoured  the  land — and  how  the  land  itself, 
not  unavenged,  bereaved  the  nations  of  men,  in  a  more  re¬ 
markable  manner  and  degree  than  any  other  country  ever 
did.  To  mark  the  nature  of  these  wars,  as  witnessed  by 
the  first  glance  at  Antioch,  is  to  see  their  end.  The  king¬ 
dom  which  it  was  their  object  to  establish,  though  nominally 
that  of  Jerusalem,  could  not  stand. 

The  strong  city  of  Alhara,  two  days’  journey  south  of 
Antioch,  was  next  besieged,  and  its  citizens  forced  to  an 
unconditional  surrender  by  the  Count  of  Toulouse,  who,  on 
the  capture  of  the  city  and  subjugation  of  the  adjoining  ter¬ 
ritory,  immediately  set  over  it  a  bishop,  on  whom  he  con¬ 
ferred  the  half  of  the  city  and  of  all  the  territory.  A  se¬ 
verer  fate  awaited  Maarah,  also  a  strongly-fortified  city,  eight 
miles  distant.  The  besiegers  and  the  besieged  launched  on 
each  other  Greek  fire,  stones,  and  enormous  rocks  ;  and 
hives  full  of  bees  were  also  cast  on  the  assailants.  In  spite 
of  the  desperate  resistance  of  the  inhabitants,  the  city  was 
taken  by  force  ;  the  Franks  (a  more  befitting  name  than 
that  of  Christians)  entered  it  sword  in  hand,  and  the  inhab¬ 
itants  were  delivered  to  the  fury  of  the  soldiers.*  The 

*  Will.  Tyr.,  p.  733. 


178 


SKETCH  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  SYRIA 


Arab  historians  relate  that  an  offered  treaty  caused  division 
in  the  city,  profiting  by  which  the  enemy  entered,  and 
slaughtered  both  parties.  Some  escaped  the  general  mas¬ 
sacre,  who  had  fled  to  a  palace,  and  were  made  prisoners, 
whom  manacles  awaited.  A  city  so  fair,  and  a  territory  so 
fertile,  tempted  the  stay  of  some  of  the  heroes  of  the  Cru¬ 
sades  who  had  come  from  Europe  to  set  Jerusalem  free. 
The  wrath  of  their  fanatic  followers  was  thereby  provoked, 
whoj  when  vainly  vociferating  to  be  led  on  to  the  Holy  City, 
forced  their  departure  by  razing  to  the  foundations  the  tow¬ 
ers  and  walls  of  Maarali* 

Intimidated,  it  may  be,  by  such  massacres,  the  cities  of 
Caesarea,  Hamah,  Emesa,  Ramlah,  and  a  great  number  of 
other  cities  of  Syria,  suffering  the  Crusaders  to  pass,  main¬ 
tained  with  them  a  temporary  peace.  To  escape  pillage, 
they  brought  food  to  the  invaders  ;  those  which  dared  to 
resist  were  taken  by  assault ;  and  thus  passing  through  the 
states  of  the  princes  of  Syria,  they  reached  Jerusalem.! 

The  sack  of  Jerusalem,  after  a  siege  of  forty  days,  was 
no  less  horrible  than  that  of  Antioch.  So  great  was  the 
slaughter  of  the  enemy,  says  the  Archbishop  of  Tyre,  and 
so  great  the  effusion  of  blood,  that  it  could  even  strike  the 
victors  with  horror.  Within  the  precincts  of  the  Temple 
ten  thousand  were  slain,  and  not  a  lesser  number  in  the 
streets.  The  rest  of  the  army,  not  engaged  in  such  gen¬ 
eral  massacre,  searched  throughout  the  lanes  and  houses 
for  those  who,  in  fear  of  death,  sought  concealment,  and 
dragged  them  forth  openly  to  execution,  to  be  slain  like 
beasts.J  According  to  other  historians,  a  hundred  thousand 
perished.^  The  old  and  infirm  were  all  slain  ;  the  women 
were  seized ;  those  who  were  spared  were  made  prisoners. 
The  spoil  in  gold,  silver,  and  gems,  together  with  sixty-six 
chandeliers  of  gold  and  silver,  was  incalculable,  or,  as  ex¬ 
pressed,  of  infinite  abundance. || 

The  loss  of  so  many  cities  and  so  great  wealth  spread 
consternation  among  all  the  Mussulmen.  When  the  tidings 
of  the  fall  of  Jerusalem  reached  Bagdad,  and  some  fugitives 
were  introduced  to  the  divan  of  the  caliph,  all  wept  at  the 
melancholy  tale,  and  tore  their  beards  in  their  bitter  lam¬ 
entations.  But,  says  the  historian,  they  could  give  nothing 

*  Will.  Tyr.,  p.  734.  De  Guigiies,  tom.  iii.,  p.  98. 

t  De  Guignes,  tom.  iii.,  p.  99.  t  Will.  Tyr.,  p.  759. 

§  De  Guignes’  Hist.,  tom.  iii,  p.  99.  U  WiU.  Tjt.,  759-761. 


DURING  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 


179 


but  their  tears  ;  they  had  none  to  send  to  chase  the  Franks 
from  Syria.*  The  Jirst  wo  had  then  passed.  But  by  im¬ 
penitent  wickedness,  and  aggravated  iniquities,  and  the  res¬ 
toration  of  idolatry  throughout  Syria,  and  in  Jerusalem  it¬ 
self,  the  way  was  speedily  preparing  for  the  second.  The 
conquering  Crusaders,  then  instruments  in  the  execution  of 
judgments,  had,  in  other  days,  to  supply  illustrations  that, 
though  hand  join  in  hand,  iniquity  shall  not  pass  unpunished 
— that  vengeance  belongs  unto  the  Lord,  and  that  He  will 
repay. 

The  short  reign,  for  a  single  year,  of  Godfrey,  duke  of 
Lorraine,!  instead  of  being  sufficient  for  the  consolidation 
of  a  new  kingdom,  or  the  restoration  of  peace  to  Palestine, 
was  not  only  imbittered  with  contests  with  the  patriarch  to 
whom  he  conceded  the  fourth  part  of  the  city,  but  was 
scarcely  begun  when  the  prince  of  Egypt,  then  the  most 
potent  in  the  East,  advanced  with  vast  hosts  in  order  to  drive 
out  the  “  barbarian”  invaders.  The  spirit  of  fanaticism  had 
been  roused  anew  by  the  capture  of  Jerusalem,  and  again 
they  overthrew  their  enemies  near  to  Ascalon  ;  but  that  city, 
which  afterward  threatened  Jerusalem,  they  did  not  then 
venture  to  assault,  and  they  laid  siege  to  Tyre  in  vain.J 

Baldwin,  the  second  king,  had  to  fight  his  way  from 
Edessa  to  Jerusalem ;  and  the  history  of  his  reign  of  eigh¬ 
teen  years  is  chiefly  comprised  in  that  of  sieges  and  battles, 
from  one  extremity  of  Syria  to  the  other.  Neither  unity, 
righteousness,  nor  peace  prevailed  in  Jerusalem.  The  pa¬ 
triarch,  w'ho  had  sought  to  appropriate  as  his  own  the  whole 
city,  fearing  the  approach  of  the  king,  betook  himself  to  the 
Church  of  Zion.  Baldwin  besieged  Ascalon  in  vain.  The 
lawless  inhabitants  of  the  plains,  freed  from  the  dominion 
of  their  former  tyrants,  and  not  courting  the  protection  of  a 
Christian  prince,  fled  before  him,  and  sought  refuge  in  caves, 
from  whence  they  were  driven  by  fire  and  suffocating  smoke, 
and  compelled  thereby  to  an  unconditional  surrender.  On 
his  passing  to  the  land  of  Moab,  and  the  more  northern  re¬ 
gions  east  of  the  Jordan,  the  inhabitants  deserted  the  plains 
and  fled  to  the  mountains  ;  but,  rushing  suddenly  on  a  large 
band  of  them  by  night,  while  most  of  the  men  escaped,  the 
new  possessors  of  Palestine  seized  the  women  and  the  chil¬ 
dren,  and  all  their  substance  for  a  prey,  and  carried  with  them 

t  WiU.  Tyr.,  p.  763-775.  t  Ibid.,  p.  781,  782. 


♦  De  Guignes,  p.  99. 


SKETCH  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  SYRIA 


immense  spoil  (spolia  infinita)  and  a  vast  number  of  cam¬ 
els,*  &c.  Such  was  the  mode  of  what  was  called  Chris¬ 
tian  domination  in  Syria. 

Presuming  on  Divine  aid,  the  king,  having  collected  all 
his  forces,  went  forth  to  extend  his  kingdom,  and  laid  siege 
to  Arsur  or  Antipatris,  which,  after  fierce  assaults,  and  a 
breach  in  the  walls  of  the  castle,  was  taken.  The  renown¬ 
ed  Ccesarea  was  next  his  prey.  Besieged  by  sea  and  land 
with  projectile  machines  placed  around,  one  of  which,  of 
marvellous  height,  was  far  higher  than  the  walls,  the  low¬ 
ers  and  walls  were  shaken,  the  houses  within  were  broken 
down,  and  the  incessant  assaults  gave  no  rest  to  the  citi¬ 
zens.  The  resistance  became  feebler  from  day  to  day,  the 
assaults  more  fierce  and  determined  ;  the  walls  were  sud¬ 
denly  scaled  and  occupied ;  the  king  entered  with  his  for¬ 
ces  into  the  city,  thus  taken  at  last  by  storm.  Caesarea  had 
rivalled  Antioch.  Each  was  built  in  honour  of  a  king  ; 
each  was  the  seat  of  royalty,  and  the  scene  of  gayety,  where 
princely  games  were  celebrated,  and  the  citizens  rioted  in 
godless  pleasures :  and  the  one  could  now  cope  with  the 
other  in  the  horrors  of  the  siege  and  sack,  those  of  Caesarea 
equalling  those  of  Antioch,  of  which  they  were  a  counter¬ 
part.  The  cool  description  of  the  archbishop  may  indicate 
how  familiar  were  such  scenes  to  the  knights  and  priests 
of  the  Crusades,  and  how  the  raising  anew  of  one  archiepis- 
copal  throne  after  another  was  preluded  by  the  outpouring 
of  torrents  of  blood. 

The  armed  soldiers,  running  everywhere  throughout  the 
city,  took  possession  of  the  courts  and  strongholds  where 
the  citizens  sought  safety,  broke  open  the  houses,  and,  put¬ 
ting  many  to  death,  seized  all  that  was  valuable.  Of  those 
whom  they  found  in  the  streets  and  lanes  of  the  city  it  is 
needless  to  speak  {superjliium  est  disserere),  since  even 
those  who  carefully  betook  themselves  to  passages  and  se¬ 
cret  places  could  not  escape  the  carnage.  On  an  elevated 
part  of  the  city,  where  formerly  stood  a  temple  of  admirable 
workmanship,  erected  by  Herod  in  honour  of  Augustus, 
there  was  a  public  oratory.  Thither,  in  the  hope  of  con¬ 
certing  means  for  their  safety,  most  of  the  citizens  had  fled, 
to  the  place  where  orations  were  wont  to  be  made.  But 
there  was  then  another  war- than  that  of  words.  When  it 
was  burst  open  by  the  foe,  such  was  the  carnage,  that  the 

*  WiU.  Tyr.,  p.  781,  782. 


DURING  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 


181 


feet  of  the  slayers  were  imbrued  in  the  blood  of  the  slain, 
and  the  multitude  of  corpses  was  a  horrible  spectacle.  In 
the  oratory  was  found  a  vase  of  the  brightest  green,  like  an 
emerald,  which  the  Genoese  purchased  at  a  great  price,  as 
an  ornament  for  their  church!  In  various  parts  of  the  city 
almost  all  the  adult  inhabitants  were  slain,  and  scarcely  was 
mercy  shown  to  youths  of  either  sex.  “  Here,  indeed,  we 
may  behold  to  the  letter,”  says  the  archbishop,  “  what  was 
written  by  the  prophet,  ‘  The  Lord  delivered  their  valiant 
men  into  captivity,  and  their  strong  men  into  the  hands  of 
the  enemy.’  Therefore,  when  the  sword  was  at  rest,  and 
the  slaughter  of  the  people  consummated,  all  the  spoil  and 
the  household  effects  were  collected  together,  and,  accord¬ 
ing  to  agreement,  the  third  part  was  allotted  to  the  Genoese, 
and  the  rest  to  the  king’s  household  followers.  Here,  for 
the  first  time,  our  people,  who  had  entered  the  country  poor 
and  needy,  and  had  laboured  under  great  want  till  that  day, 
now  loaded  with  booty  and  enriched  with  money,  began  to 
live  sumptuously.  The  king,  being  recalled  by  urgent  af¬ 
fairs,  having  chosen  as  archbishop  one  named  Baldwin  who 
had  come  to  the  expedition  under  Godfrey,  and  having  left 
a  garrison  in  the  city,  ha.stened  with  the  rest  of  the  troops 
to  Ramlah.”* 

Anything  approaching  to  a  full  detail  of  the  incessant 
wars  by  which  Syria  was  ravaged  throughout  all  its  borders 
would  fill  a  large  volume.  As  there  was  no  rest  for  the 
Jews  scattered  throughout  the  world,  the  land  itself  had 
none  from  the  many  nations  which  came  up  against  it. 
The  alternation  of  victory  and  defeat,  and  of  the  capture  and 
renewed  siege  of  cities,  gave  no  pause  to  the  work  of 
slaughter,  spoliation,  and  destruction.  The  l^nd  of  Israel 
became,  as  it  were,  an  outspread  altar,  in  which  human 
sacrifices  were  offered  continually.  Its  numerous  fortified 
cities,  in  the  hands  of  hostile  princes,  became  its  bane  rath¬ 
er  than  its  defence.  City  was  set  against  city,  as  army 
against  army.  The  envirosis  of  a  fortified  town  w’ere  no 
sooner  ravaged  and  laid  waste,  than,  on  the  withdrawing  of 
the  foe,  its  revengeful  inhabitants  sallied  forth  to  retaliate 
'the  wrong,  wherever  a  defenceless  city  could  be  found  ; 
and  Jerusalem  itself  was  thus  repeatedly  assailed. 

Such  was  the  insecurity  of  the  throne  of  Jerusalem,  that, 
soon  after  the  capture  of  Caesarea,  the  king  was  a  solitary 

*  Will.  Tyr.,  Hist.,  p.  784,  785. 

Q 


182 


SKETCH  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  SYRIA 


fugitive.  Advancing  to  repel  the  invading  Egyptians,  he 
discomfited  them  in  the  first  encounter  on  the  plains  of 
Ramlah,  with  the  slaughter  of  5000  men.  Returning  with 
a  fourfold  re-enforcement,  they  wreaked  their  vengeance 
on  the  vanquished  army  of  the  Crusaders,  the  remnant  of 
which  found  refuge  within  the  walls  of  Ramlah.  Escaping 
from  thence  to  Antipatris,  the  king  rallied  his  forces,  and 
reconquered  his  enemies.  The  cause  of  the  Crusades  re¬ 
vived.  Tortosa  was  taken  by  new  emigrants  from  Europe. 
The  intrepid  Tancred  assembled  all  his  forces  in  the  north 
of  Syria,  and  besieged  the  noble  city  of  Apamea,  then  the 
capital  of  Coele-Syria,  by  the  capture  of  which  he  greatly 
extended  the  boundaries  of  his  principality.  Laodicea,  peo¬ 
pled  by  Greeks,  submitted  to  his  authority.  Ptolemais, 
which  repelled  a  first  siege,  fell  in  the  second.  Tripoli  was 
taken  by  stratagem  :  Berytus,  after  a  siege  by  sea  and 
land.  Danes  and  Norwegians,  descending  on  Syria,  len‘ 
their  aid  to  the  siege  and  capture  of  Sidon.* 

These  temporary  triumphs  of  the  Crusaders,  having 
roused  the  fear  and  vengeance  of  their  enemies,  brought  on 
them  new  hosts  of  foes.f  While  the  Egyptians  fought  in 
vain  with  Baldwin  in  the  south  of  Syria,  the  King  of  Mous- 
sul  and  other  Moslem  princes,  with  an  army  of  60,000 
Turks,  assailed  the  Franks  in  the  north  of  Syria.  The 
King  of  Aleppo,  at  the  head  of  half  that  number,  threatened 
Damascus,  of  which,  while  in  previous  amity  with  the  Cru¬ 
saders,  he  had  been  constituted  the  protector.  The  new 
war,  carried  on  with  varied  success  and  manifold  desola¬ 
tions,  terminated  in  favour  of  the  Crusaders,  who  became 
masters  of  Ariesia.  But  new  enemies  speedily  arose  : 
among  others,  the  Assassins,  who  gave  rise  to  the  name 
which  appropriately  designates  them,  and  were  dangerous 
alike  to  Christians  and  Mussulmen.  They  seized  Apamea, 
which  was  besieged  and  retaken.  Thoghteghin,  king  of 
Damascus,  again  and  again  ravaged  the  territories  of  Tibe¬ 
rias  and  Sidon,  and  blockaded  #iese  cities.  He  destroyed 
the  fortress  of  ArcJias,  and  the  environs  of  Tyre,  of  which 
he  raised  the  siege  ;  while  the  Syrians  revolting,  besieged 
Damascus.  The  previous  armies  that  had  passed  the  Eu¬ 
phrates  having  sunk  before  European  valour,  the  Sultan  of 
Persia  summoned  all  the  Mussulmen  to  a  religious  war, 
and  200,000  Turkish  troops  were  mustered  in  the  armies 

*  Will,  Tyr.,  p.  786-9,  &c,  t  De  Guignes’  Hiat.,  tom.  iii.,  p,  103, 108,  'passim. 


DURING  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 


183 


of  Syria.  The  King  of  Damascus  joined  his  forces  with 
those  of  Maudoud  (Menduc),  a  powerful  Persian  prince, 
who  besieged  Tiberias  for  three  months,  and  ravaged  all 
its  vicinity."^  “  There  was  no  end,”  says  the  archbishop, 
“  of  the  infinite  multitude  that  broke  into  the  kingdom  of 

O 

Jerusalem.”  They  laid  waste  the  plains  and  harassed  the 
cities.  The  Crusaders  in  vain  strove  to  withstand  them, 
and  were  defeated  and  pursued  with  so  great  and  unspa¬ 
ring  slaughter,  that  the  king  himself,  casting  away  the  stand¬ 
ard  which  he  bore,  and  the  patriarch,  together  with  other 
princes  who  accompanied  them,  were  scarcely  saved  by 
flying  to  the  mountains.  The  army  of  the  enemy,  in  separ¬ 
ate  divisions  spread  over  the  plains,  converted  the  highways 
into  scenes  of  slaughter,  ravaged  the  land  by  fire  and  sword, 
devastated  the  suburban  regions,  assaulted  walled  cities, 
and  passed  as  freely  throughout  Syria  as  if  it  had  been  sub¬ 
ject  to  their  sole  dominion  (A.D.  1013).  The  Saracens  of 
the  land  united  with  the  invaders  :  and  such  was  the  terror 
that  reigned  throughout  all  the  kingdom,  that  no  one  dared 
to  be  seen  beyond  the  walls.  Enemies  from  the  south,  as 
well  as  from  the  north  and  east,  rushed  on  the  miserable 
kingdom  of  Jerusalem  ;  and  that  city  itself  was  besieged 
by  the  Ascalonites,  as  it  had  previously  been  threatened  by 
the  Turks. ”t 

Some  of  the  cities  of  Syria,  though  secure  against  their 
foes,  were  visited  at  the  same  time  by  terrible  and  exten¬ 
sive  earthquakes.  Several  cities  were  reduced  to  heaps  of 
stone,  and  the  inhabitants  dispersed  throughout  the  plains, 
while  many  perished  in  the  ruins.  But  the  sword  did  not 
rest,  though  the  fortune  of  war  was  changed.  Turks,  when 
victorious,  strove,  like  the  Christians,  for  the  prey.  The 
King  of  Damascus  united  with  the  Franks  ;  and  when 
Maudoud  had  been  assassinated,  the  Sultan  of  Persia  sent 
another  army  of  46,000  men  across  the  Euphrates  (A.D. 
1 1 15).  They  entered  the  territory  of  Antioch,  and  besieged 
Ro/ia,  where  many  Franks  and  Armenians  were  slain  ; 
they  laid  waste  all  the  environs  of  Samosata  and  Saro(u,dge, 
or  Rugia,  and  many  other  neighbouring  cities  which  belonged 
to  the  Franks,  and  made  prisoner  William  of  Percy,  who 
commanded  that  country.  Hamah,  then  a  city  of  the  King 
of  Damascus,  was  besieged  and  taken,  and  given  up  to  pil¬ 
lage.  But  their  desolating  career  was  stayed.  Many  ene- 

*  De  Guignes’  Hist.,  tom.  iii.,  p.  Ill,  118.  t  Will.  Tyr.,  p.  807,  808. 


184 


SKETCH  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  SYRIA 


mies  combined  against  them  ;  and,  being  suddenly  assailed 
when  separated  in  three  divisions,  one  of  these  fell  under 
the  arms  of  the  Franks,  another  perished  in  the  River  Phar- 
phar,  and  the  third  was  attacked  and  defeated  by  Thoghte- 
ghin,  who  slew  of  them  3000  men.*  His  peace  with  the 
Crusaders  was  speedily  at  an  end  ;  and  when  a  band  of 
Turks  sought  to  take  possession  of  Raphania,  they  all  fell 
beneath  his  sword.  The  kingdom  of  Aleppo  became  a 
province  of  the  Otrokides,  who  thenceforth  carried  on  a 
vigorous  war  with  the  Franks,  who  had  driven  them  from 
Judea. 

Such  was  the  reign  of  Baldwin,  the  first  of  the  name  who 
was  King  of  Jerusalem.  That  of  his  son  was  not  less 
bloody,  nor  less  checkered  with  triumph  and  disasters,  or 
less  uniform  in  the  multiplicity  of  the  desolating  raids  of  the 
spoliators  of  Syria.  The  military  events  which  were  con¬ 
centrated  in  his  reign  of  twelve  years  are  too  numerous  to 
be  defined,  and  the  mere  recital  of  the  chief  of  them  may 
show  how  that  country  continued  unceasingly  to  be  a  troub¬ 
led  and  a  bleeding  land.  On  the  south,  in  the  first  year 
of  his  reign,  it  was  invaded  by  an  Egyptian  army,  desig¬ 
nated  an  infinite  multitude  ;  to  repel  which,  the  king  with¬ 
drew  his  forces  from  Tripoli  and  Antioch. f  In  the  west, 
Gazzi,  general  of  the  Turkomans,  joined  with  other  foes, 
invaded  the  territories  of  Antioch  and  Aleppo  ;  and,  obtain¬ 
ing  the  mastery,  carried  on  an  exterminating  war.  Roger, 
prince  of  Antioch,  was  slain,  and  his  newly-recruited  army 
annihilated.  The  king,  hastening  to  the  combat,  defeated 
his  enemies  in  a  desperate  battle,  in  which  4000  of  them 
fell.;]:  A  new  invasion  of  the  same  region  occupied  his 
collected  forces  ;  while  the  King  of  Damascus,  allied  with 
the  Arabs,  ravaged  the  territory  of  Tiberias.  With  a  re¬ 
venge  that  slumbered  not,  the  king  besieged  Gerasa,  took 
and  razed  it.^  Called  from  thence  to  rescue  his  kingdom 
from  the  frequent  and  fierce  irruptions  of  Balac,  a  powerful 
Turkish  prince,  the  king  himself  was  taken,  and,  bound 
with  chains,  was  carried  beyond  the  Euphrates. 1|  The 
kingless  kingdom,  again  also  the  prey  of  Egypt,  was,  as  in 
the  days  of  his  father,  threatened  with  extinction.  But  the 
crusading  phrensy  was  still  strong  in  Europe,  and  myriads 
rushed  to  the  field  of  blood  into  which  the  whole  land  of 

*  De  Guides,  p.  114,  115.  t  Will.  Try.,  p.  818.  t  Will.  Tyr.,  p.  823. 

^  De  Guignes,  p.  117.  I!  WiU.  Tyr.,  p.  825. 


DURING  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 


185 


Israel  had  been  converted.  The  Duke  of  Venice  timely 
arrived  with  a  numerous  fleet,  w^hich,  as  the  record  bears, 
gloriously  triumphed  over  that  of  Egypt.  Baalbec  was  be¬ 
sieged  by  Balac  ;  Jerusalem  was  again  repeatedly  assailed  ; 
and'  Tyre,  after  a  vigorous,  bloody,  and  long-protracted 
siege,  reduced  by  famine  rather  than  by  force,  surrendered 
by  capitulation. 

The  fall  of  Tyre  roused  anew  all  the  forces  of  the  East 
against  the  countries  possessed  by  the  Franks.*  Baldwin, 
released  after  a  captivity  of  eighteen  months,  again  headed 
his  armies,  and  paid  his  ransom  with  the  blood  of  his  ene¬ 
mies.  The  latter  part  of  his  reign  was  a  repetition  of  the 
first,  in  incessant  contests,  of  varied  issues,  and  in  different 
localities,  wdth  Egyptians,  Turks,  and  Arabs,  &c. ;  but, 
whoever  prevailed,  the  land  was  ever  ravaged.  The  city 
of  Raphania,  in  the  country  of  Apamea,  was  taken  by  the 
king  and  the  Count  of  Tripoli,  after  a  siege  of  eighteen  days. 
Maarah  w^as  besieged,  and  all  Coele-Syria,  in  the  ordinary 
phraseology  of  such  histories,  was  entirely  ravaged  by  the 
Turks.  Of  two  successive  expeditions  against  Damascus, 
the  first  had  no  other  result  than  the  abundance  of  the  spoil ; 
in  the  second,  undertaken  on  the  promise  that  the  city  would 
be  delivered  into  their  hands  by  the  chief  of  the  Assassins, 
who  possessed  many  castles  in  the  vicinity  of  Paneas,  the 
Franks,  apprized  of  the  massacre  within  the  walls  of  Da¬ 
mascus  of  6000  of  their  treacherous  allies,  abandoned  the 
enterprise,  accounting  it  happiness,  which  many  of  them  did 
not  enjoy,  to  escape  with  their  lives.  Such  was  the  last 
exploit  of  Baldwin  the  Second,!  A.D.  1131. 

Two  intestine  contests  for  supremacy  in  the  north  of 
Syria  were  not,  in  its  commencement,  the  presage  of  a 
peaceful  reign  to  Fulco,  the  successor  of  Baldwin  the  Sec¬ 
ond.  Invited  by  the  princes  of  Antioch  to  settle  their  troub¬ 
led  state,  at  a  time  when  princely  cities  of  Syria  were  gift¬ 
ed  as  dowries,  the  Prince  of  Tripoli  refused  him  a  passage 
through  his  territory  ;  “  the  soldiers  of  the  Cross,”  adding  a 
still  deeper  stain  to  the  name,  drawn  up  in  battle  array, 
fought  with  each  other  in  a  long-doubtful  battle,  till  the  for¬ 
ces  of  the  count  were  vanquished  by  those  of  the  king.!  In 
Coele-Syria  a  war  was  carried  on  between  rival  brothers, 
Ismael  and  Mohammed,  sons  of  the  deceased  King  of  Da¬ 
mascus.  The  fortresses  of  Ras  and  Lebona  were  taken  and 

t  Ibid.,  p.  122-123.  t  Will.  Tyr.,  p.  854,  855. 

Q2 


»  Do  Guignes,  p.  120. 


ISO 


SKETCH  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  SYRIA 


retaken,  and  Baalbec  was  besieged.  The  troublous  times 
gave  no  respite  to  war  ;  and  while  the  King  of  Jerusalem 
was  occupied  before  Joppa,  Paneas  (Caesarea  Philippi)  was 
l)esieged  and  taken  by  Ismael,  king  of  Damascus.  A  tem¬ 
porary  peace  between  these  monarchs  served  but  to  change 
the  seat  of  war.  Ismael  invaded  the  territories  of  the  Count 
of  Tripoli,  defeated  him  in  battle  under  the  citadel  of  Monte 
Pellegrino,  made  him  prisoner,  and  slew  him.^  His  son 
and  successor,  Raimond,  assailed  in  his  devastated  territory 
by  a  ferocious  but  skilful  chief,  Zenghi,  who  proved  his 
title  to  the  name  of  Sanguinus,  given  him  by  the  Franks, 
invoked  the  aid  of  the  King  of  Jerusalem,  who  hastened 
with  a  large  army  to  his  succour.  Sanguinus,  who  had  be¬ 
sieged  the  city  of  Raphania,  and  grievously  afflicted  its  in¬ 
habitants,  encountered  with  a  large  and  powerful  army  the 
forces  of  the  king,  and,  having  defeated  them  with  great 
slaughter,  put  the  Crusaders  to  flight,  and  pressing  hard  on 
the  vanquished  monarch,  besieged  him  and  his  chieftains  in 
the  castle  of  Mount  Ferrard,  into  which  they  had  fled  as  the 
nearest  asylum. 

Open  to  devastation  as  the  kingdom  of  Jerusalem  then 
was,  its  enemies  on  every  side,f  eager  for  the  conquest  or 
renewed  possession  of  Syria,  were  not  slack  in  their  efforts 
to  attain  it.  The  inhabitants  of  Ascalon,  which  then  per¬ 
tained  to  Egypt,  defeated  the  intrepid  Rainald,  who  bore  the 
title  of  bishop,  but  who  was  a  bold  soldier  in  carnal  warfare, 
and  previously  distinguished  for  his  military  exploits. J 
While  the  congregated  forces  of  the  Crusaders  were  hast¬ 
ening  to  the  rescue  of  their  king,  Ismael  pillaged  and  burn¬ 
ed  the  city  of  Napolous,  and  afterward  turned  his  arms 
against  Hamah,  which  Zenghi  had  previously  taken  by  sur¬ 
prise.  Having  retaken  it,  together  with  the  castle,  he  pil¬ 
laged  Schizor  (Caesarea),  and  returned  to  Damascus.  Arabs, 
Turks,  Greeks  and  Persians,  Egyptians  and  Turkomans, 
thus  successively  vied  with  Franks  in  their  crusading  ca¬ 
reer.  Ismael  besieged  and  took  the  fortress  of  Schokaef ; 
and  this  conquest  having  displeased  the  Franks,  they  retal¬ 
iated  the  wrong  by  reassembling  their  forces  in  the  Haou- 
ran,  which  Ismael  again  repaid  by  an  irruption  into  the 
country  of  Tiberias.  Such  was  the  tyranny  of  that  lord  of 
Damascus,  who  had  repeatedly  laid  waste  large  portions  of 
Syria,  that,  slain  by  his  servants,  his  subjects  exulted  in  his 

*  De  Guignes,  tom.  iii.,  p.  124.  t  Will.  Tyr.,  p.  866,  867.  I  Ibid.,  p.  868. 


DURING  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 


187 


death.*'  The  regent  of  his  kingdom  offered  twenty  thou¬ 
sand  pieces  of  gold  monthly  to  the  Franks  to  aid  him 
against  Zenghi,  the  founder  of  the  dynasty  of  Attabeks  in 
Syria  (originally  officers  of  the  Seljoucides  of  Persia). 
Their  joint  armies  laid  siege  to  Paneas,  which  city,  when 
taken,  he  offered  to  deliver  to  the  Franks. 

Before  this  seemingly  unhallowed  league  was  formed  by 
Crusaders  and  the  enemies  of  the  faith,  Christians  had  con¬ 
tended  with  Christians  for  the  possession  both  of  Antioch 
and  CcEsarea,  and  the  extensive  intervening  regions  ;  and 
both  these  cities  had  been  besieged,  while  in  possession  of 
the  Franks,  by  the  Emperor  of  Constantinople,  and  suffered 
severely  from  his  assaults. f  Scarcely  had  the  emperor  with¬ 
drawn  from  Syria,  when  the  king,  congregating  his  forces, 
passed  the  Jordan  to  besiege  a  fortress  in  Gilead,  which 
grievously  annoyed  the  terrsttories  of  the  Franks,  when  a 
band  of  Turks,  seizing  the  opportunity  of  ravaging  Palestine, 
took  possession  of  the  town  of  Tekoa,  the  city  of  Amos  and 
Habakkuk,  the  inhabitants  of  which  fled  at  their  approach. 
Robert  of  Burgundy,  arriving  in  Jerusalem,  having  endeav¬ 
oured  to  repulse  them,  was  defeated  with  great  slaughter, 
and  many  nobles  were  slain.  The  Crusaders  needed  Mos¬ 
lem  aid  to  attempt  the  siege  of  Paneas. 

The  King  of  Damascus  was  called  from  the  siege  of 
Paneas  to  the  defence  of  his  own  capital ;  the  Bathenians 
or  Assassins  took  the  famous  fortress  of  Masat,  near  to 
Tripoli,  where  they  long  established  themselves  in  the  ad¬ 
joining  mountains,  under  their  chiefs,  who  bore  successive¬ 
ly  the  long-dreaded  name  of  the  “  Old  Man  of  the  Mount¬ 
ain.”  As  the  power  of  the  Seljoucides  became  more  and 
more  feeble  in  Syria,  that  of  the  Attabeks  arose.  Led  on  b}'- 
Zenghi,  they  added  daily  to  their  conquests  in  the  territo¬ 
ries  of  Damascus,  and  in  those  also  of  the  Franks. J  Fearful 
for  Antioch,  and,  consequently,  for  all  Syria,  the  Crusaders 
in  Palestine  invoked  the  aid  of  all  the  princes  of  Europe, 
to  save  the  Holy  Land  from  the  threatened  domination  of  the 
infidels.  St.  Bernard,  the  abbot  of  Clairvaux,  was  the  Pe¬ 
ter  the  Hermit  of  the  second  crusade.  Encouraged  by  the 
pope,  he  did  not  plead  with  kings  in  vain.  The  King  of 
France,  Louis  the  Seventh,  enlisting  as  a  soldier  in  the 
holy  war,  along  with  a  great  number  of  the  princes  of 

*  De  Guignes,  vol.  iii.,  p.  124,  125.  t  Will.  Tyr.,  p.  871-883. 

t  De  Guignes,  p.  129. 


188  SKETCH  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  SYRIA 

France,  took  the  cross  (se  croiserent)  at  Vezelay.  The  em¬ 
peror,  Conrad  III.,  rivalling  the  king  in  holy  zeal,  and  with 
him  a  part  of  Germany  coping  with  France,  resolved  to  un¬ 
dertake  the  deliverance  of  Palestine.  There  they  first  as- 

a' 

sembled  at  Ptolemais.  This  storm,  says  De  Guignes,  which 
seemed  to  have  been  raised  for  the  destruction  of  the  Atta- 
beks,  at  that  time  the  most  powerful  enemies  of  the  Franks, 
burst  impetuously  on  the  kingdom  of  Damascus,  the  regent 
of  which,  seeking  deliverance  from  their  common  enemy, 
courted  the  alliance  of  the  Franks.  But  Damascus  was  the 
richest  remaining  prize  in  Syria ;  and  three  kings,  those  of 
Jerusalem,  of  Germany,  and  of  France,  heading  their  re¬ 
spective  hosts,  sat  down  together  in  hostile  array  before  it. 
On  the  north  and  west,  contiguous  orchards  formed,  as  it 
were,  a  forest  five  miles  broad,  which  itself  was  reckoned 
among  the  fortifications  of  Damascus.  To  feed  on  its  abun¬ 
dant  and  delicious  fruits,  some  of  which  were  new  to  the 
taste  of  many  German  Crusaders,  as  well  as  to  bereave  the 
inhabitants  of  them,  the  Franks,  after  desperate  and  bloody 
conflicts,  held  the  princely  forest  as  their  own,  and  drove 
those,  whose  enemies  they  were,  within  the  walls  of  the 
city.  In  a  protracted  siege,  the  citizens  began  to  despair 
of  safety,  and  to  meditate  flight.  But  the  hope  of  conquest 
became  the  cause  of  contention.  The  second  Crusaders, 
more  rash  than  the  first,  disputed  for  the  prize  before  it  was 
won.  The  purposed  possession,  or  division  of  the  uncon¬ 
quered  city,  broke  up  the  unity  of  its  besiegers.  There  was 
thus  jealousy,  if  not  treachery,  in  the  camp.  The  mode  of 
assault  was  changed  ;  the  ground  that  had  been  gained  was 
lost ;  the  King  of  Moussul  drew  near  with  an  army  for  the 
defence  of  the  city  ;  it  was  time  for  the  chief  of  the  Atta- 
beks  to  display  the  power  which  they  had  come  to  destroy  ; 
and  the  siege  that  could  not  be  renewed  was  raised,  and  the 
King  of  Jerusalem,  as  before,  together  with  the  Emperor 
of  Germany  and  the  King  of  France,  left  a  country  which 
they  had  laid  waste,  but  a  city  which  they  could  neither 
take  nor  destroy,  and  which  joyfully  and  proudly  witnessed 
the  retreat  of  the  baffled  monarchs."^ 

The  numerous  armies  which,  in  the  middle  of  the  twelfth 
century,  arrived  in  Syria  from  Europe,  might,  in  the  estima¬ 
tion  of  a  historian,  “  have  been  amply  sufficient,  by  their 
combined  energies,  to  overthrow  the  rising  empire  of  the 

*  De  Guignes,  p.  129-131.  Will.  Tyr.,  p.  910-913. 


DURING  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 


189 


Attabeks.”  But  so  greatly  was  their  power  paralyzed  by 
their  dissensions,  that  they  could  not  preserve  from  the  rav¬ 
ages  and  rapacity  of  their  enemies  the  territory  and  the 
cities  of  the  kingdom  of  Jerusalem,  which  they  had  come 
to  uphold  and  to  extend.  Though  the  Attabeks  warred  with 
each  other,  and  thus  added  to  the  devastation  of  the  land, 
the  valiant  and  famous  Noureddin  was  ever  ready  to  en¬ 
counter  and  repel  the  Crusaders,  though  headed  by  Chris¬ 
tian  knights  and  kings.  He  defeated  them  at  Tagra.  So 
soon  as  they  retreated  from  Damascus,  he  besieged  the  cas¬ 
tle  of  Nessa,  encountering  which,  Raimond,  prince  of  An¬ 
tioch,  was  defeated  in  battle  and  slain  ;  and  his  head,  as  a 
trophy  of  victory,  was  sent  to  Bagdad.  J'he  triumph  of 
Noureddin  spread  consternation  among  all  the  Franks. 
The  terriiory  of  Antioch  was  next  his  prey ;  and  he  pene¬ 
trated  even  to  the  monastery  of  St.  Simeon  and  the  mount- 

•/ 

airvs  beyond  it.  He  took  the  castle  of  Harem,  about  ten 
miles  from  Antioch,  and  garrisoned  it  strongly.  It  repelled 
the  attacks  of  the  King  of  Jerusalem ;  and  he  who  so  re¬ 
cently  had  pressed  the  siege  of  Damascus,  fled  for  safety 
to  Antioch.  Noureddin  wasted  all  its  territories.  He  be¬ 
sieged  and  took  the  castle  of  Apamea,  one  of  the  strongest 
fortresses  held  by  the  Franks  in  that  vicinity  when  they 
pillaged  the  land  of  Hamah.  Joscelin,  count  of  Edessa, 
was  the  reputed  “  flail”  of  the  Mussulmen.  Noureddin 
assembled  the  Turkomans  against  him  and  slew  him. 
Baldwin  drew  his  forces  to  Antioch.  The  Emperor  of 
Constantinople  purchased  from  the  widowed  countess,  at  a 
large  price,  the  country  she  was  unable  to  defend  ;  and  his 
Greek  soldiers  took  possession  of  city  after  city  that  then 
remained  in  the  hands  of  the  Franks.  But  they  were 
speedily  driven  from  them  all  by  the  victorious  Noureddin, 
and,  together  with  the  retreating  king,  made  Antioch  their 
refuge.  Noureddin  filled  the  whole  region  with  his  legions. 
Bitter  were  the  lamentations  when  the  Crusaders  who  had 
settled  in  the  fertile  region  which  skirts  the  base  of  the 
mountains  of  Amanus,  abandoned  it  to  infidels,  and  passed 
as  defeated  and  desolated  pilgrims  from  the  land  of  which 
they  had  taken  possession,  in  the  vain  expectation  that  it 
was  destined  to  be  theirs  and  that  of  their  seed  forever. 
The  patriarchate  of  Antioch  was  shorn  at  once  of  three 
archbishoprics,  Edessa,  Hierapolis,  and  Coricensis.*  Nour 

*  Will.  Tyr.,  p.  920, 921. 


190 


SKETCH  OF  THE  IHSTORY  OF  SYRIA 


reddin  greatly  and  speedily  extended  his  dominion  ;  and 
that  prince  of  the  Attabeks,  whose  power  the  first  monarchs 
of  Europe  had  come  to  destroy,  was  lord  of  Damascus  in 
six  years  after  they  had  besieged  it  in  vain*  (A.D.  1154). 

The  taking  of  Damascus  gave  him  the  sovereignty  of  its 
kingdom.  He  laid  siege  to  the  strong  city  of  Faneas,  and 
surrounded  it  with  a  great  number  of  engines.  A  vast  mul¬ 
titude  of  Arabs  was  dispersed  in  its  vicinity  and  occupied 
the  forest.  The  Franks,  faithless  to  treaties,  showed  them 
no  mercy,  and  raised  up  against  themselves  the  armies  of 
all  the  Mussulmen  princes. f 

While  incessant  war  thus  raged  in  the  north,  and  a  large 
portion  of  Syria  was  lost  forever  to  the  Crusaders,  the  rest 
of  the  land  was  not  in  a  less  troublous  state,  and  they  were 
doomed  at  the  same  time  to  encounter  other  enemies  than 
the  sovereign  of  the  Attabeks.  So  insecure  was  the  king¬ 
dom  of  Jerusalem,  that  a  multitude  of  Turks  surrounded  that 
city,  and,  occupying  the  Mount  of  Olives,  threatened  it  with 
destruction;}:  (A.D.  1152).  Jerusalem  was  assailed  in  the 
absence  of  the  king,  and  while  the  greater  part  of  the  sol¬ 
diery  were  assembled  at  Neapolis.  Defenceless  as  it  was, 
its  inhabitants,  prompted  by  fanaticism  and  despair,  seized 
their  arms,  and,  rushing  furiously  by  night  on  their  unsus¬ 
pecting  foes,  drove  them  from  the  precincts  of  the  holy 
city.  Pursuing  them  on  the  road  to  Jericho  by  a  mountain¬ 
ous  route,  they  slew  those  in  the  more  open  places  with  the 
sword,  and  precipitated  others  from  rocks,  while  the  slaugh¬ 
ter  was  so  great  that  the  multitude  of  slain  impeded  their 
pursuit.  Vengeance  overmastered  avarice  ;  and  the  Chris¬ 
tian  inhabitants  of  Jerusalem  dealt  so  relentlessly  with  their 
unresisting  foes,  that  they  slew  like  beasts  the  dismounted 
horsemen,  wearied  with  their  flight,  and  loaded  with  their 
arms.  Despising  the  spoil,  and  declining  their  share  of  the 
booty,  they  were  so  fiercely  bent  on  carnage,  that  they  ac¬ 
counted  it  to  be  the  greatest  gain  to  be  imbrued  with  the 
blood  of  their  enemies. §  Such,  literally,  is  the  archbishop^s 
description.  He  adds,  that  the  flying  Turks  were  met  by 
the  soldiers  of  the  cross  from  Neapolis,  who  had  secured 
the  ford  of  the  Jordan,  that  their  enemies  might  not  escape 
them,  who,  fleeing  thither  for  safety,  rushed  on  slaughter. 
As  an  illustration  that  the  hand  of  the  Lord  was  upon  them, 
he  quotes  the  Scripture,  That  which  the  locust  has  left  has 
*  De  Guignes,  p.  178.  t  Ibid.,  p.  179.  t  Will.  Tyr.,  p.  922.  i)  Ibid.,  p.  923. 


DURING  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 


191 


the  caterpillar  eaten.  The  prophecy  does,  indeed,  relate  to 
the  desolators  and  desolation  of  the  land  of  Israel.  But 
these  words  do  not  terminate  the  predicted  judgment ;  and, 
as  interpreted  by  the  prelate,  the  Crusaders  themselves  soon 
supplied  another  illustration  :  for  such  relentless  victors, 
who  returned  to  profane  the  Temple  with  their  presence, 
and  the  name  of  God  with  their  praise,  could  not  always 
pass  unpunished,  but  were  rather  made  to  know  that  the 
hand  of  the  Lord  was  also  upon  them,  and  that  they  were 
not  the  people  to  keep  the  city  of  Jerusalem.  Yet,  as  the 
wicked  of  the  earth  who  made  a  prey  of  the  land — accord¬ 
ing  to  the  symbolical  interpretation  of  the  prelate,  they 
illustrated  the  word  of  the  Lord — That  which  the  palmer- 
worm  hath  left  hath  the  locust  eaten  ;  and  that  which  the  locust 
hath  left  hath  the  canker-worm  eaten  :  and  it  is  farther  added, 
as  may  farther  be  seen,  that  which  the  camker-worrn  hath  left 
hath  the  caterpillar  eaten.*  The  cry  of  destruction  on  de¬ 
struction  did  not  cease  with  the  Crusades. 

Victorious  in  the  south,  though  vanquished  in  the  north 
of  Syria,  the  Crusaders  soon  after  pressed  impetuously  the 
siege  of  Ascolon.  They  went  at  first  to  ravage  its  environs, 
without  the  hope  of  taking  or  even  the  purpose  of  besieging 
it.  Such  was  the  strength  of  the  city,  that,  after  having 
resisted  and  repelled  every  attempt  to  take  it  for  more  than 
half  a  century  when  other  cities  and  fortresses  of  Syria  had 
yielded  to  the  power  and  owned  the  authority  of  the  Crusa¬ 
ders,  the  task  was  not  only  felt  to  be  arduous,  but  was 
deemed  almost  impossible.  It  was  not  only  the  last  fortress 
of  the  Egyptians,  or  of  the  Phatimate  dynasty  in  Syria,  but 
it  seemed  to  stand  alone — the  impregnable  Ascalon.  Its 
w'alls  sheltered  the  warriors  who  had  often  struck  Jerusalem 
with  terror,  and  its  siege  was  made  a  trial  of  the  strength 
of  Christendom.  The  king,  the  patriarch,  the  archbishops 
of  Tyre,  Caesarea,  and  Nazareth,  and  the  other  lords  of  the 
kingdom,  both  princes  and  prelates,  and  the  soldiers  of  the 
cross  from  all  their  cities,  laid  siege  to  it  by  land,  together 
with  a  fleet  by  sea.  After  a  continued  ineffective  siege  for 
two  months,  while  the  approach  of  the  great  festival  brought 
many  Crusaders  to  Palestine,  other  work,  then  deemed 
strictly  analogous  and  alike  meritorious,  had  to  be  done, 
than  the  keeping  of  a  holy  festival,  even  beside  the  sup¬ 
posed  sepulchre  of  Jesus.  A  royal  interdict  prohibited  the 

*  Joel,  i.,  4. 


192 


SKETCH  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  SYRIA 


return  of  any  Christian  to  Europe,  and  all  were  ordered  to 
betake  themselves  k)  the  siege,  and  every  ship’s  station 
was  appointed  there.  Thither  flocked  all  the  soldiers  of 
the  cross,  and  the  army  was  augmented  daily.  The  whole 
power  of  the  Crusaders  brought  to  bear  upon  this  single 
point,  is  an  index  of  the  strength  of  Ascalon,  and  of  the  im¬ 
portance  it  maintained.  Notwithstanding  all  that  art  and 
arms  could  do,  and  all  the  desperate  daring  of  the  boldest 
steel-clad  knights  of  Europe,  at  a  time  when  chivalry  had 
reached  its  height ;  and  notwithstanding  the  massy  rocks 
thrown  by  vast  engines  into  the  city,  and  the  moles  and 
towers  that  were  raised  against  it,  for  month  after  month, 
during  which  there  was  scarcely  a  day  which  slaughter 
could  not  count  its  own,  defiance  was  still  shouted  from  the 
walls  and  bulwarks  of  Ascalon  ;  and  they  withstood  every 
assault,  till  an  elemental  war,  not  to  be  resisted,  brought 
them  partly  down.  The  besieged,  intent  at  all  hazards  on 
the  overthrow  of  a  tower  of  the  enemy,  from  which  the  most 
destructive  projectiles  were  cast  into  the  city,  filled  the  in¬ 
tervening  space  with  ignitable  wood  mixed  with  pitch,  on 
which  oil  was  poured  and  all  the  most  combustible  materi¬ 
als  were  heaped.  But  vt^hen  the  fire  was  at  its  height,  a 
tempest,  rising  suddenly,  drove  the  flames  in  their  utmost 
fury,  during  the  whole  night,  right  against  the  contiguous 
part  of  the  city  wall,  which  finally  fell  with  a  thundering 
crash,  that  instantaneously  appalled  the  city  and  roused 
the  whole  army.*  The  rule  of  Christian — but  truly  most 
unchristian — warfare  was,  that  “  in  taking  a  city  by  storm, 
whatever  any  one  first  seized  was  his  and  his  heirs’  for¬ 
ever.”  Honour  and  glory,  even  at  the  greatest  or  brightest, 
are  often  but  shadowy  forms  and  empty  names,  and  have 
nothing  of  the  substance  of  the  faith  of  a  Christian.  Stimu¬ 
lated  by  avarice  no  less  than  by  honour,  the  noble  Knights 
of  the  Temple,  with  their  master  at  their  head,  rushed  into 
the  breach  ;  and  that  the  richest  spoil  might  be  theirs  alone, 
they  suffered  none  to  follow  them.  Slain  to  a  man,  they 
merited  their  fate.  Ascalon  would  not  yield  to  an  uncon¬ 
ditional  surrender.  It  could  yet  make  its  terms  with  the 
foe  ;  and  its  brave  defenders,  with,  their  wives  and  children, 
and  much  of  their  goods,  marched  in  safety  from  the  city 
where  the  Templars  found  a  grave.* 

The  fall  of  Ascalon  did  not  bring  peace  to  Palestine. 

*  Will.  Tyr.,  p.  923,  930. 


DURING  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 


i93  # 


A  city  was  taken,  but  a  treaty  was  broken.  Baldwin  had 
sworn  solemnly  to  maintain  peace  with  the  Turks  and 
Arabs,  who  at  that  time  peacefully  tended  their  flocks  and 
herds  in  the  vicinity  of  Paneas.  Dwelling  mutually  in 
peace  ;  undisturbed  by  their  Moslem  brethren,  as  unitedly 
members  of  hoth  the  great  Mohammedan  families  ;  secured 
in  their  possessions  by  the  very  enemies  of  their  faith,  to 
whom  they  had  yielded  their  city  only  on  that  solemn 
pledge — if  there  were  any  people  in  the  land  that  could  find 
peace,  these  were  they.  Their  flocks  multiplied,  their 
wealth  increased.  But  the  king  had  many  and  urgent 
creditors.  His  debts  could  not  but  be  discharged,  in  hon¬ 
our,  by  whatever  means  ;  and  as  one  king  of  Jerusalem  had 
paid  his  ransom  by  revenges  on  his  enemies,  another  plun¬ 
dered  the  property  he  was  sworn  to  protect,  and  slew  those 
whom  it  was  his  duty  to  defend.  The  soldiers  of  the 
cross — if  that  term  which  they  bore  may  be  used  without 
profanation — were  summoned.  From  Jerusalem  they  went 
forth  ;  and,  headed  by  their  king,  rushed  suddenly  on  help¬ 
less  multitudes,  fearing  nothing ;  and  all  who,  on  the  sud¬ 
den  surprise,  escaped  not  by  flight  and  concealment  in  the 
thickets  of  the  forest,  were  put  to  the  sword,  or  delivered 
over  to  cruel  servitude.  Such  and  so  unheard  of  was  the 
abundance  of  the  prey  as  to  be  unparalleled  in  European 
countries.* 

The  surreptitious  spoil  and  murderous  slaughter  quickly 
brought  avenging  woes  on  the  king  and  his  kingdom.  All 
the  Moslems,  whether  Turks  or  Arabs,  were  thereby  united 
against  him.  Paneas  was  besieged  by  Noureddin  with  an 
ardour  unremitted  by  night  or  day  ;  defeated  in  a  desperate 
sally,  the  retreating  citizens  re-entered  the  city  mingled 
with  their  enemies,  who  with  fearful  slaughter  forced  them 
into  the  castle.  The  kingji^nd  his  army,  coming  to  their 
relief,  and  falling  into  a  ‘Ware,  were  unconsciously  sur¬ 
rounded  by  the  forces  of  Noureddin,  who  exacted  of  them, 
without  mercy,  the  innocent  blood  they  had  shed.  The 
army  was  destroyed  and  dispersed ;  the  king  escaped  with 
extreme  hazard  of  his  life  to  the  castle  of  Safed,  and  many 
noble  knights  were  made  prisoners  of  war.  >  Noureddin 
again  besieged  Paneas  and  its  castle,  which  defied  his 
power  till  relieved  again  by  the  king,  accompanied  by  the 

*  Facta  est  igitur  nianul)iarum  et  prctsdie  taata  et  tarn  inaudita  multitudo,  ut  par 
ei  in  nostris  regionibus  non  dicatur  fuisse. — W,  Tyr.,  p.  939. 


0  194  SKETCH  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  SYRIA 

Prince  of  Antioch  and  the  Count  of  Tripoli.  He  left  it 
little  else  than  in  ruins,  from  which  it  was  speedily  raised 
again,  at  a  time  when  cities  and  fortresses  of  Israel  were 
prizes  contended  for  by  princes  and  kings. 

Amalric,  his  brother,  succeeded  Baldwin  III.,  and  was 
king  of  Jerusalem  from  A.D.  1162  to  A.D.  1173.  Though 
much  remains  to  be  told,  enough  may  have  been  said  to 
show,  with  the  definitiveness  of  historical  facts,  that  in  the 
Middle  Ages,  Syria  had  cities  that  could  withstand  many  a 
fierce  and  lengthened  siege ;  and  that,  while  conqueror 
after  conqueror  strove  to  repair  or  to  rebuild  in  order  to  keep 
them,  desolator  came  after  desolator  to  lay  waste  the  land, 
and  to  take  or  destroy  its  cities. 

Amalric,  in  the  words  of  De  Guignes,  engaged  in  a  war 
disastrous  to  Noureddin,  to  the  Franks,  and  the  caliphs  of 
Egypt,  The  last  were  entirely  destroyed ;  the  Franks  lost 
Jerusalem,  and  the  family  of  Noureddin  great  part  of  their 
power ;  and  the  famous  Saladin  ascended  the  throne  of 
Egypt.*  In  these  and  other  disastrous  days  to  Syria,  de¬ 
feat  was  rapidly  followed  by  victory,  and  victory  by  defeat. 
Noureddin,  while  ravaging  the  territory  of  Tripoli,  was 
himself  defeated  in  the  next  battle,  and  his  army  almost 
annihilated,  while  he  scarcely  escaped  with  his  life.  Thirst¬ 
ing  for  vengeance,  he  forced  Damascus,  Aleppo,  and  other 
cities  to  replace  the  horses,  the  silver,  the  men,  and  all  the 
materials  of  war  which  he  had  lost.f  The  veteran  hero, 
with  his  own  forces,  and  those  which  came  to  his  aid  from 
his  brother  the  King  of  Moussul  and  other  neighbouring 
princes,  was  soon  at  the  head  of  a  new  and  numerous  army, 
accompanied  by  Faccardine  and  his  troops.  He  reinvested 
Harem,  and  strove  to  beat  down  its  walls.  They  resisted  all 
his  efforts,  till  he  was  forced  to  raise  the  siege  on  the  ap¬ 
proach  of  a  vast,  or,  as  designated,  innumerable  army  of 
Crusaders,  commanded  by  many  princes  and  nobles,  among 
whom  were  the  son  of  the  captive  Prince  of  Antioch,  the 
Count  of  Tripoli,  the  Goverffor  of  Cilicia,  Hughes  of  Le- 
signan,  and  Joscelin,  esteemed  by  the  Moslems  the  bravest 
of  them  all,  together  with  Toros,  the  king  of  Armenia, 
whose  forces  were  united  with  theirs.  The  now  wary 
Noureddin  retired,  not  to  fly,  but  to  fight.  Ten  thousand 
Franks  lay  dead  on  the  field ;  a  greater  number  were  taken 

*  De  Guignes,  tom.  iii.,  p.  185.  t  Ibid.,  p.  183.  Will.  Tyr.,  p.  960. 


DURING  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 


195 


prisoners,  among  whom  were  the  princes  who  were  carried 
captiv^e  to  Aleppo ;  and  Harem,  again  besieged,  became  the 
prey  of  the  victor.'*'  Hopeless  of  assailing  successfully  the 
fortifications  of  Antioch,  his  army  ravaged  resistlessly  all 
the  country  to  Laodicea  and  Souaidea. 

Noureddin,  having  rendered  his  name  immortal  by  his 
victories  against  the  Christians,  besieging  Paneas,  forced 
the  King  of  Jerusalem  to  raise  the  siege  of  Palusium.  Pre¬ 
viously  rebuilt  by  the  Franks,  Paneas  was  taken  and  forti¬ 
fied  anew.  He  sent  an  army,  under  Schirkouh,  a  Kurd, 
the  uncle  of  Saladin,  who  accompanied  him,  throughout  the 
territories  of  the  Franks,  and  took  a  fortress  near  Sidon, 
surrendered  by  treason,  and  another  beyond  the  Jordan,  . 
defended  in  vain  by  the  Templars. f  This  success  in  Syria 
tempted  him  to  aspire  to  the  conquest  of  Egypt,  when  the 
Franks  lent  their  aid  to  the  sinking  Phatimites,  threatened 
by  their  common  foe.  Saladin  displayed  his  generalship 
and  prowess  in  the  land  of  the  Pharaohs,  which  finally  be¬ 
came  his  own  by  art  no  less  than  by  arms. 

While  the  rising  hero,  who  was  soon  to  eclipse  them  all, 
was  paving  his  way  to  empire,  the  land  of  Syria  was  open 
to  Noureddin,  who  attacked  the  towns  of  Saphia  and  Ari- 
ma,  and  took  the  castle  of  Akapli  and  that  of  Dgiaher,  near 
the  Euphrates. if  But,  more  than  the  conquests  of  Noureddin, 
the  establishment  of  Saladin  in  ‘Egypt  spread  alarm  among 
all  the  Franks.  A  council  was  held  at  Jerusalem  ;  and, 
for  the  protection  or  preservation  of  the  Holy  Land,  the  aid 
was  invoked  of  Louis,  king  of  France,  Henry  of  England, 
William  of  Sicily,  and  of  other  princes  of  Europe.  But 
the  danger  was  imminent,  and,  ere  they  and  their  forces 
reached  the  shores  of  Syria,  more  than  two  hundred  gal¬ 
leys,  loaded  with  men,  and  arms,  and  military  engines,  sail¬ 
ed  from  Constantinople,  and  landed  at  Ascalon ;  and  Eu¬ 
rope  was  moved  from  side  to  side,  to  save  Jerusalem  and 
its  kingdom  when  threatened  by  a  Kurd.  It  had  to  be  de¬ 
fended  as  it  had  been  won — by  the  sword  ;  and  the  wars  of 
the  Crusaders  seemed  again  to  begin. ^ 

But  the  hand  of  the  Lord  fell  heavier  on  the  chief  cities 
of  Syria  than  did  the  human  instruments  of  his  wrath,  wheth¬ 
er  they  came  from  Asia,  Africa,  or  Europe.  At  his  voice 
the  earth  shakes,  and  the  strongest  bulwarks  fall  in  a  mo- 


*  De  Guignes,  tom  iii.,  p.  189,  190. 
t  Ibid.,  p.  200,  201. 


t  Ibid.,  p.  191. 
I)  Ibid.,  p.  207. 


196 


SKETCH  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  SYRIA 


ment ;  and,  as  if  stricken  by  the  Almighty,  Syrian  cities 
and  fortresses  became  the  easier  prey  of  mortal  combatants. 
In  June,  1170,  the  greater  part  of  the  cities  of  Syria  and 
Palestine  were  destroyed  by  an  earthquake,  unexampled  in 
that  age.  Antioch,  then  the  metropolis  of  many  provinces, 
as  formerly  of  many  kingdoms,  was  strewed  with  the  ground ; 
the  walls,  andj^the  strong  towers  along  their  circuit,  the 
churches  and  public  edifices,  were  overthrown  by  so  great 
a  shock,  that,  for  years  thereafter,  immense  expenditure  in 
money  and  indefatigable  labours  could  scarcely  restore  them 
to  a  stale  of  mediocrity.  According  to  historians  the  most 
guarded  in  their  statements,  the  chief  cities  were  overthrown, 
and  their  inhabitants  buried  in  their  ruins ;  among  these 
were  numbered  Baalhec,  Hemesa,  Hamah,  Schaizar  or  C?es- 
area,  and  Aleppo.  In  Aleppo  not  a  single  dwelling  was 
left ;  and  the  inhabitants  that  survived  encamped  without 
the  ruined  city.  Tripoli,  a  noble  and  populous  city,  was 
so  shattered  at  midnight  in  a  moment,  that  scarcely  one  of 
all  its  houses  was  a  place  of  safety.  The  whole  city  was 
like  a  mound  of  stones,  a  heap  covering  the  entombed  citi¬ 
zens,  a  public  sepulchre.  The  strongest  towers  of  Tyre 
were  thrown  down.  While  the  hand  of  the  Lord  was  thus 
upon  the  land,  the  fiercest  warriors  were  appalled ;  there 
was  a  truce  between  enemies,  while  their  cities  were  fall¬ 
ing  without  the  hand  of  man.  For  three  or  four  months,  or 
even  more,  earthquakes  were  felt  three  or  four  times,  and 
frequently  oftener,  either  in  the  day  or  in  the  night.  The 
stoutest  heart  was  shaken  by  the  slightest  motion.  The 
wrath  of  man  was  suspended,  and  the  power  of  man  ceased, 
when  the  armour  of  steel  became  as  a  winding-sheet,  and 
the  firmest  bulwarks  a  grave.  Towns  half  buried,  their 
walls  fallen,  lay  open  to  the  incursions  of  enemies,  whether 
Franks  or  Turks  ;  but  for  a  time  no  one  dared  to  enter. 
When  the  earthquakes  ceased,  the  work  of  reparation  be¬ 
gan,  and  among  all  the  hostile  foes  in  Syria,  each  being 
busied  with  his  own,  labours  for  self-defence  were  carried 
on  by  night  and  day.* 

Before  the  close  of  the  same  year  famine  raged  in  the 
land  which  earthquakes  had  shaken  ;  and  war,  another  mes¬ 
senger  of  the  Lord,  came  again  within  the  borders,  but  not 
to  rest  till  the  idolatrous  Christians,  under  whom,  no  less 
than  under  the  heathen,  the  land  and  the  holy  city  were 

*  Will.  Tyr.,  p.  985,  986.  De  Gnignes,  p.  210. 


DURING  THE  MIDDLE  AGES.  197 

polluted,  should  be  driven  from  Jerusalem,  and  renounce, 
but  in  name,  its  sovereignty  forever. 

Saladin  and  Noureddin  were  alike  intent  in  carrying  on, 
after  a  brief  suspense,  the  war  in  Syria.  The  former  laid 
siege  to  the  fortress  of  Dareun  near  Gaza,  defeated  Amal- 
ric,  and  entered  the  city  of  Gaza ;  but  the  castle  success¬ 
fully  resisted  his  power.  He  subsequently  besieged  the 
towns  of  Karak  and  Shohec ;  but  such  was  their  strength, 
that  he  spent  many  days  before  them  in  vain.  He  deso¬ 
lated  and  depopulated  the  region  beyond  Jordan.  Noured¬ 
din  laid  waste  the  territories  and  the  very  environs  of  Anti¬ 
och  and  Tripoli,  and  attacked  the  towns  of  Saphia  and 
Arima,  and  the  castle  of  Area*  But  his  death  (A.D.  1174) 
wrought  a  great  change  in  Syria,  introduced  a  revolution 
in  one  of  its  kingdoms,  and  prepared  the  way  for  the  sub¬ 
version  of  another. 

Saladin  soon  became  Lord  of  Damascus  as  well  as 
Sultan  of  Egypt.  He  took  the  city,  but  not  the  castle  of 
Emesa ;  made  himself  master  of  Hamah,  which  pertained 
to  Faccardine,  and,  after  a  second  siege  of  Aleppo,  which 
he  disputed  with  the  son  of  Noureddin,  the  cities  of  Baal- 
hec,  Maara,  and  Kafartab  submitted  to  his  authority.  While 
he  was  thus  occupied  in  conquering  for  himself  a  kingdom 
in  the  north  of  Syria,  the  Franks,  alarmed  at  his  conquests, 
tried  every  means  of  arresting  his  course.  According  to 
the  common  fate  of  ever-devastated  Syria,  when  the  terri¬ 
tories  he  had  won  were  disfurnished  of  troops  in  reducing 
other  lands  and  cities  to  his  power,  the  Crusaders  entered 
on  new  raids,  and  passing  the  Jordan,  and  traversing  the 
forest  of  Paneas,  they  completely  pillaged  the  territory  of 
Damascus,  reaching  to  the  vicinity  of  the  city.  The  in¬ 
habitants  of  the  environs  of  Palmyra  were  made  prisoners, 
their  goods  pillaged,  and  their  lands  laid  waste.  The 
brother  of  Saladin,  the  Governor  of  Damascus,  was  defeat¬ 
ed  ;  and  before  the  dominion  of  Saladin  was  firmly  estab¬ 
lished,  many  Mussulmen  princes  carried  on  war  with  each 
other  ;  and  the  whole  northern  region  was  a  scene  of  inces¬ 
sant  warfare,  till  Saladin  was  finally  victorious  over  all  his 
other  enemies,  and  all  the  power  of  his  two  kingdoms  of 
Egypt  and  Syria  was  brought  to  bear  with  exterminating 
vengeance  on  the  Franks. f 

*  De  Guignes,  p.  213,  214,  218.  Will.  Tyr.,  p.  986,  987,  993 

t  De  Guignes,  tom.  iii.,  p.  1,  224-237. 

R  2 


198 


SKETCH  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  SYRIA 


But  the  kirigdom  of  Jerusalem  was  not  given  up  by  the 
soldiers  of  Europe  without  dreadful  and  deathlike  struggles. 
Ascalon  and  Ramlah,  as  in  the  first  wars  of  the  Crusades 
on  the  shores  of  Syria,  were  the  scenes  of  battles  in  which 
the  swords  of  the  Franks  were  fleshed  in  the  Moslems  ; 
but  the  blades  of  Damascus  retaliated  the  slaughter,  and  the 
arrows  of  the  Turks  and  Arabs  descended  in  showers  upon 
their  enemies.  Defeated  at  first  with  a  terrible  slaughter 
of  his  troops,  Saladin  was  finally  victorious.  A  religious 
war,  more  desperate  than  at  first,  was  carried  on  through¬ 
out  Syria.  Ascalon  and  the  seashore  were  again  a  Jield  of 
blood.  After  the  victory  of  the  Christians  they  pursued 
their  routed  foes,  and  for  twelve  miles,  says  the  archbishop, 
there  did  not  cease  to  be  a  continued  slaughter  of  the  ene¬ 
my.*  The  hostile  armies  alternately  desolated  each  other’s 
territories.  The  king,  Baldwin  IV.,  after  his  victory,  broke 
furiously  into  those  of  Saladin  ;  and  the  rich  territory  of 
Paneas  was  specially  the  scene  of  renewed  desolation. 

But  from  north  to  south,  throughout  its  whole  extent,  the 
kingdom  of  Jerusalem  was  the  prey  of  the  renovated  armies 
of  Saladin.f  The  battle  of  Tiberias,  in  which  his  forces 
were  estimated  at  more  than  two  hundred  thousand,  and  in 
which  twelve  hundred  knights  of  Europe  fought  till  most  of 
them  were  slain  and  they  could  rally  no  more,  was  the 
deathblow  of  the  power  of  the  Crusaders  in  Palestine,  from 
which  neither  Richard  of  England,  though  “  lion-hearted,” 
nor  Louis  of  France,  its  sainted  king,  were  ever  able  to 
recover  them.  The  King  of  Jerusalem  and  the  Grand¬ 
master  of  the  Temple,  together  with  many  nobles,  were  his 
prisoners.  Most  of  the  cities  and  castles  which  the  Chris¬ 
tians  possessed,  both  in  the  mountains  and  along  the  coast, 
were  speedily  his  own,  viz.,  Tiberias,  Akha,  Ccesarea, 
Kaipha,  Sephouria,  Shaoikaif  Phiala,  Jaffa,  Talnin,  Seid, 
Beyrout,  Dgiobail,  Laodicea,  Sahioun,  Derbisac,  Bagras, 
Krak,  Sephed,  Gaza,  Ramlah,  as  all  enumerated  by  Herbe- 
lot  and  De  Guignes.  Jerusalem  fell,  and  the  Franks  who 
survived  the  siege  were  driven  from  the  holy  city,  which 
for  nearly  a  century  they  had  profaned  by  their  cruel  deeds, 
their  fierce  contentions,  and  their  abominable  idolatries. 
The  piece  of  old  wood  which  they  bore  with  that  name, 
and  which  was  taken  in  the  battle  of  Tiberias  from  the 
hands  of  a  Romish  bishop,  was  all  they  saw  or  knew  of  the 
cross  of  Christ. 

*  Will.  Tyr.,  p.  1010. 


t  Ibid.,  p.  1015,  1017,  1025-1032,  1037-1040. 


DURING  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 


199 


The  field  of  the  Crusaders  in  Syria  was  narrowed  to  a 
space  along  the  seacoast,  where  the  Lord  still  appointed  the 
sword.  Though  the  statement  by  Gibbon  that  “  Noureddin 
waged  a  long  and  successful  war  against  the  Christians  of 
Syria,”  cannot  convey  any  adequate  idea  of  the  destruction 
and  desolation  caused  in  that  country  by  his  hand,  yet  a  few 
extracts  from  that  historian’s  description  of  the  last  and  lin¬ 
gering  struggles  of  the  Crusades  on  their  narrowed  field 
may  suffice  to  close  up  this  summary  notice  of  these  deso¬ 
lating  wars.  The  small  portion  of  the  land  that  remained 
in  the  hands  of  the  Turks  still  continued  to  bereave  the  na¬ 
tions  of  men. 

“  The  pathetic  narratives,  and  even  the  pictures  that 
represented,  in  lively  colours,  the  servitude  and  profanation 
of  Jerusalem,  awakened  the  torpid  sensibility  of  Europe  ; 
the  Emperor  Frederic  Barbarossa,  and  the  kings  of  France 
and  England,  assumed  the  cross.  The  Italians  embarked 
in  the  ships  of  Genoa,  Pisa,  and  Venice.  They  were  next 
speedily  followed  by  the  most  eager  pilgrims  of  France, 
Normandy,  and  the  Western  Isles.  The  powerful  succour 
of  France,  Frise,  and  Denmark  filled  a  hundred  vessels. 
The  siege  of  Acre  lasted  near  two  years,  and  consumed,  in 
a  narrow  space,  the  forces  of  Europe  and  Asia.  Never 
did  the  flame  of  enthusiasm  burn  with  fiercer  and  more 
destructive  rage.  At  the  sound  of  the  holy  trumpet,  the 
Moslems  of  Egypt,  Syria,  Arabia,  and  the  Oriental  provin¬ 
ces,  assembled  under  the  servant  of  the  Prophet ;  his  camp 
was  pitched  wdthin  a  few  miles  of  Acre  ;  and  he  laboured 
night  and  day  for  the  relief  of  his  brethren  and  the  annoy¬ 
ance  of  the  Franks.  Nine  battles,  not  unworthy  of  the 
name,  were  fought  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Mount  Carmel, 
with  such  vicissitude  of  fortune,  that  in  one  attack  the  sul¬ 
tan  forced  his  way  into  the  city  ;  that  in  one  sally  the 
Christians  penetrated  to  the  royal  tent.  The  Latin  camp 
was  thinned  by  famine,  the  sword,  and  the  climate  ;  but  the 
tents  of  the  dead  were  replenished  with  new  pilgrims. 
After  every  resource  had  been  tried  and  every  hope  was 
exhausted,  the  defenders  of  Acre  submitted  to  their  fate — a 
capitulation  was  granted.  By  the  conquest  of  Acre,  the 
Latin  powers  acquired  a  strong  town  and  a  convenient  har¬ 
bour  ;  but  the  advantage  was  most  dearly  purchased.  The 
minister  and  historian  of  Saladin  computes  that  their  num- 

*  Gibbon’s  Hist.,  vol.  xi.,  p.  119. 


200 


SKETCH  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  SYRIA 


li 


bers,  at  different  periods,  amounted  to  five  or  six  hundred 
thousand  ;  that  more  than  one  hundred  thousand  Christians 
were  slain  ;  that  a  far  greater  number  was  lost  by  disease 
or  shipwreck ;  and  that  a  small  portion  of  this  mighty  host 
would  return  in  safety  to  their  native  countries.”*  “  After 
the  surrender  of  Acre  and  the  departure  of  Philip  (king  of 
France),  the  King  of  England  led  the  Crusaders  to  the  re¬ 
covery  of  the  seacoast,  and  the  cities  of  Ccesarea  and  Jaffa 
were  added  to  the  fragments  of  the  kingdom  of  Lusignan. 
A  march  of  one  hundred  miles,  from  Acre  io  Ascalon,  was 
a  great  and  perpetual  hatile  of  eleven  daysJ\ 

While  the  Franks  lost  all  but  a  fragment  of  their  king¬ 
dom,  partially  enlarged  by  the  excommunicated  Frederic, 
emperor  of  Germany,  who  entered  Jerusalem  in  triumph, 
St.  Louis  of  France,  at  the  head  of  the  sixth  Crusade,  nev¬ 
er  reached  the  Holy  Land ;  the  rest  of  Syria  did  not  long 
repose  in  peace  ;  but  the  temporary  calm,  as  the  presage  of 
a  storm,  was  terminated  “  by  the  irruption  of  the  strange 
and  savage  hordes  of  Carizmians.  Flying  from  the  arms 
of  the  Moguls,  these  shepherds  of  the  Caspian  rolled  head¬ 
long  on  Syria,  and  the  union  of  the  Franks  with  the  sultans 
of  AleppOy  HemSy  and  Damascus,  was  insufficient  to  stem 
the  violence  of  the  torrent.  Whatever  stood  against  them 
was  cut  off  by  the  sword  or  dragged  into  captivity  ;  the  mil¬ 
itary  orders  were  almost  exterminated  in  a  single  battle  ; 
and  in  the  pillage  of  the  city,  in  the  profanation  of  the  holy 
sepulchre,  the  Latins  confess  and  regret  the  modesty  and 
discipline  of  the  Turks  and  Saracens. 

In  the  middle  of  the  thirteenth  century  the  reign  of  the 
Mamelukes  commenced.  “  Antioch  was  finally  occupied 
and  ruined  by  Bondocdar,  or  Bibars,  sultan  of  Egypt  and 
Syria.  The  maritime  towns  of  Laodicea,  Galata,  Tripoli, 
Berytus,  Sidon,  Tyre,  and  Jaffa,  and  the  stronger  castles  of 
the  Hospitallers  and  Templars,  successively  fell.^  Sultan 
Khalil  marched  against  Acre  at  the  head  of  sixty  thousand 
horse  and  one  hundred  and  forty  thousand  foot ;  his  train  of 
artillery  (if  I  may  use  the  word)  Was  numerous  and  weighty  ; 
the  separate  limbers  of  a  single  engine  were  transported  in 
one  hundred  wagons  ;  and  the  royal  historian  Abulfeda,  who 
served  with  the  troops  of  Hamah,  was  himself  a  spectator 
of  the  holy  war.  After  a  siege  of  thirty-three  days,  the 


*  Gibbon,  vol.  xi.,  p.  138-141. 
t  Ibid.,  p.  158. 


t  Ibid.,  p.  143. 
Ibid.,  p.  16&. 


DURING  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 


201 


double  wall  was  forced  by  the  Moslems  ;  the  principal  tower 
yielded  to  their  engines ;  the  city  was  stormed  ;  and  death 
or  slavery  was  the  lot  of  sixty  thousand  Christians.  Of 
five  hundred  knights,  only  ten  were  left  alive.  By  the  com¬ 
mand  of  the  sultan,  the  churches  and  fortifications  of  the 
Latin  cities  were  demolished,  and  a  mournful  and  solitary 
silence  prevailed  along  the  coast  which  had  so  long  re¬ 
sounded  with  the  world’s  debate.”* 

The  coast  of  Syria,  and,  lastly,  that  alone,  did  “  long  re¬ 
sound  with  the  world’s  debate.”  There,  and  there  only, 
did  a  king  of  England  and  of  France,  with  the  Emperor  of 
Germany  and  many  other  princes  of  Europe,  contend  side 
by  side  on  the  same  battle-field ;  there,  and  there  only,  did 
princes  and  potentates  from  the  farthest  West  meet  in  hos¬ 
tile  array  with  those  of  the  farthest  East,  and  Europe,  and 
Asia,  and  Africa  contended,  though  unconsciously,  for  the 
possession  of  that  covenanted  land,  which,  according  to  the 
Word  of  the  Lord,  became  the  prey  of  strangers,  the  spoil 
of  the  wicked  of  the  earth,  though  destined  to  be  the  ever¬ 
lasting  possession  of  the  house  of  Israel  alone.  Kings  of 
Europe,  with  the  pilgrim’s  staff  in  their  hands,  drew  from 
it  their  highest  titles,  and  the  noblest  of  European  knights 
took  from  it  their  origin  and  their  order ;  and  thither,  in  the 
pride  of  their  hearts,  they  went  forth  in  thousands  ;  but  their 
lances  were  shivered  in  the  plains  of  Palestine,  where  their 
bodies  were  entombed,  and  where  feudalism  itself  did  fall. 

Though  the  last  battles  of  the  Crusades  were  fought  along 
the  seacoast  where  the  Lord  had  appointed  the  sword, \  and 
Europe  rallied  its  strength  in  vain  to  penetrate  into  the  in¬ 
terior  of  the  land,  no  pcmtion  of  it  had  rest ;  and  the  sum¬ 
mary  record,  as  above  given,  of  the  close  of  the  crusading 
wars,  can  convey  but  a  very  partial,  as  well  as  most  in¬ 
adequate,  idea  of  the  troubles  that  were  then  multiplied  on 
Syria. 

“  A  more  unjust  and  absurd  constitution,”  says  Gibbon, 
“  cannot  be  devised,  than  that  which  condemns  the  natives 
of  a  country  to  perpetual  servitude,  under  the  arbitrary  do¬ 
minion  of  strangers  and  slaves.  Yet  such  has  been  the 
state  of  Egypt  above  five  hundred  years.  The  most  illus¬ 
trious  sultans  of  the  Baharite  and  Borgite  dynasties  were 
themselves  promoted  from  the  Tartar  and  Circassian  bands  ; 
and  the  four-and-twenty  beys,  or  military  chiefs,  have  ever 

*  Gibbon,  vol.  xi.,  p.  167,  168.  t  Jer.,  xlvii.,  6,  7. 


202 


SKETCH  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  SYRIA 


been  succeeded,  not  by  their  sons,  but  by  their  servants  ; 
they  produce  the  great  charter  of  their  liberties,  the  treaty 
of  Selim  the  First,  with  the  republic.”*  Egypt,  as  proph¬ 
esied,  had  become  a  hase  kingdom^  the  basest  of  the  king- 
doms,\  and  yet,  fallen  as  it  was,  it  lorded  over  Syria.  That 
land  on  which  the  curses  of  the  covenant  had  fallen,  had 
no  charter  of  its  liberties  to  produce  ;  and  when  the  “  king¬ 
dom  of  Jerusalem”  had  vanished,  it  became  the  subjugated 
vassal  state,  and  the  prey  of  the  “  basest  of  kingdoms.” 
The  word  Mamelukes  literally  signifies  slaves,  and  such 
they  were,  as  the  name  imports.  Turkish  and  Circassian 
slaves,  raised  into  officers  of  their  army  by  the  successors 
of  Saladin,  who,  with  such  power  in  their  hands,  made  them¬ 
selves  masters  of  Egypt,  and  establishing  there  a  “  military 
republic,”  turned  Syria  into  a  land  garrisoned  by  foreign 
tyrants.  But  instead  of  resting  under  them,  the  land  of  Is¬ 
rael,  like  its  expatriated  people,  was  spoiled  evermore.  Bat¬ 
tles  and  sieges  ceased  not,  though  the  combatants  were 
changed.  Turkomans  and  Arabs  fiercely  withstood  the 
Mamelukes,  and,  when  subdued,  rebelled.  Syria,  like  the 
wicked,  while  still  given  into  such  hands,  was  as  the  troub¬ 
led  sea  that  cannot  rest.  The  lesser  waves  beat  incessant¬ 
ly  against  each  other,  till,  as  at  other  seasons,  a  higher  wave 
for  the  time  overwhelmed  them  all,  and  left  them  again 
more  agitated  than  before.  Bibars,  a  sultan  of  the  Baharite 
dynasty,  who  occupied  and  ruined  Antioch  and  many  other 
cities,  and  scourged  the  Franks  from  the  Phoenician  coast, 
had  also  to  encounter  mightier  foes.  Holagou,  emperor  of 
the  Moguls,  before  the  Franks  were  driven  out  of  it,  enter¬ 
ed  Syria  with  four  hundred  thousand  men.  The  army  of 
the  Moslems  was  defeated  with  great  slaughter,  and  pursu¬ 
ed  to  the  gates  of  Aleppo.  That  city  was  besieged,  and 
when  the  machines  of  the  enemy  were  brought  to  bear  upon 
the  weakest  part  of  the  wall,  it  fell ;  and  the  city,  when  ta¬ 
ken,  was  given  up  to  pillage  for  six  days.  Partly  through 
treachery  and  force,  Damascus  was  taken,  and  its  castle, 
together  with  that  of  Baalbec,  was  destroyed.  Maarah, 
Hama,  Emesa,  Harem,  &c.,  were  besieged  and  ravaged. 
The  fortifications  of  Aleppo  and  other  cities  were  razed. 
Adgeloun  was  besieged,  taken,  and  ruined.  The  ravages 
of  the  Moguls  in  Syria,  on  their  first  invasion  under  Hola¬ 
gou  (A.D.  1259,  1260),  extended  from  the  Euphrates  to 

*  Gibbon,  toI.  xi.,  p.  164.  t  Ezek.,  xxix.,  14,  15. 


DURING  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 


203 


Tiberias,  where  their  army  was  entirely  vanquished,  and 
their  general  slain.  Driven  from  Syria,  they  speedily  re¬ 
turned,  retook  Alep'po,  massacred  the  inhabitants  of  Carne- 
bia,  besieged  Emesa  and  Apamea,  and  laid  waste  their  ter¬ 
ritories.* 

Abaka-il-Khan,  the  son  and  successor  of  Holagou,  sent 
ambassadors,  and  entered  into  treaty  with  the  pope  and  all 
the  Christian  princes,  and,  striving  to  drive  the  Mamelukes 
from  tSyria,  subjected  it  to  redoubled  desolation.  Having 
ravaged  the  country  from  Aleppo  to  Emesa,  a  great  battle, 
not  without  its  parallel  in  Syria  from  the  conjoined  victory 
and  defeat  of  the  respective  united  armies,  was  fought  in  the 
great,  and,  as  then  it  was,  beautiful  plain  of  Emesa.  Mo¬ 
guls,  Georgians,  Armenians,  and  Persians  were  ranged  on 
the  one  side  ;  Egyptians,  Arabs,  Turkomans,  &c.,  on  the 
other.  The  Mussulmen  fled  before  the  Moguls,  who  believ¬ 
ed  that  the  victory  was  theirs,  and  pursued  their  vanquished 
foes  amid  a  terrible  carnage.  But  their  ally,  the  King  of 
Armenia,  who  led  on  the  Christians,  met  with  no  less  terri¬ 
ble  discomfiture,  and,  fleeing  from  the  land  whose  invaders 
were  devoted  to  destruction,  lost  all  his  officers,  and  almost 
all  his  army.f 

But  the  time  had  come  when  neither  aid  from  Europe, 
nor  the  alliance  of  the  Moguls,  could  sustain  or  restore  the 
fallen  kingdom  of  Jerusalem.  The  successor  of  Abaka, 
adopting  the  Mohammedan  faith,  took  the  name  of  Ahmed, 
and  became  the  persecutor  of  the  Christians  and  the  friend 
of  the  Moslems.  The  greater  part  of  the  churches  were  de¬ 
stroyed,  and  the  Christians  exiled  (A.D.  1283). J 

Before  the  close  of  the  same  century,  “  the  wars  of  Syria” 
began  anew  between  the  Khan  of  the  Moguls  and  the  Sul¬ 
tan  of  Egypt.  The  whole  country  was  alternately  the  prey, 
from  end  to  end,  of  the  one  and  of  the  other  :  the  Moguls  at 
one  time,  when  victorious,  ravaging  the  environs  of  Gaza  and 
the  borders  of  Egypt,  and  the  Mamelukes,  or  Syrians,  at 
another,  recovering  their  lost  dominion  in  the  farthest  ex¬ 
tremities  of  Syria.  Each  sought  the  destruction  of  the  oth¬ 
er.  The  Egyptians,  when  defeated,  retired  beyond  the  des¬ 
ert,  the  Moguls  beyond  the  Euphrates,  on  the  north  of  Syr¬ 
ia,  alike  to  recruit  their  strength  and  to  renew  the  war.  The 
fated  Syria,  from  one  extremity  to  the  other,  lay  thus  be- 

•  De  Guignes,  tom.  iii.,  p.  250-257.  t  Ibid.,  p.  258-2^2, 

%  Ibid.,  p.  263. 


204 


SKETCH  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  SYRIA 


tween  them,  and  was  the  prize  for  w'hich,  in  their  appointed 
times,  they  fought.  Though  the  Sultan  of  Egypt  counted  it 
his  own,  and  the  Mussuhnen  deemed  it  their  own  land,  yot 
when  Gazan,  the  Tartar  emperor,  crossed  the  Euphrates, 
and  spread  over  the  regions  of  Sarrain,  Maarah,  and  Anti¬ 
och,  and  threatened  the  entire  destruction  of  the  Mohamme¬ 
dans,  they  shut  up  their  cattle  and  grain  in  their  fortresses, 
and  set  lire  to  all  that  they  could  not  save.  The  Mogul  ar¬ 
my  was  so  numerous  that  it  occupied  the  space  of  three  days 
journeying  in  length  from  Bacca  to  Beer ;  but  such,  then, 
were  the  contests  for  Syria  and  within  it,  that  the  battles  be¬ 
tween  such  numerous  hosts  were  so  long  contested  and 
fierce,  that  victory  long  hung  in  the  balance  ;  and  when,  at 
last,  the  Moguls,  after  immense  slaughter,  gave  way,  the 
Mussulmen  retired  to  Hamah.  To  its  environs  the  Moguls 
speedily  returned,  and  advanced  to  Emesa,  which  in  such 
desperate  warfare  they  took,  after  every  Mussulman  had 
been  put  to  the  sword.  Another  battle,  contested  for  two 
days,  terminated  in  the  overthrow  of  the  Moguls,  who  had 
power  to  devour  and  to  despoil,  but  not  to  retain  possession 
of  Syria,  which  the  Mamelukes  enslaved.* 

No  less  than  in  other  ages,  Syria,  under  the  Mamelukes, 
was  given  unto  strangers  for  a  prey,  and  to  the  wicked  of  the 
earth  for  a  spoil.  All  the  different  corps  of  their  army  amount¬ 
ed  to  nearly  three  hundred  thousand  men.  Each  emir  or  chief 
had  a  portion  of  land  assigned  him  j  the  peasantry  furnish¬ 
ed  provisions,  and  bread  was  distributed  among  the  soldiers. f 
Insurrectionary  movements  repeatedly  indicated  the  severi¬ 
ty  of  the  bondage  ;  hut  the  descendants  of  ancient  conquer¬ 
ors  had  in  their  turn  to  experience  that  peace  was  not  the 
portion  of  those  who  dwelt  in  a  land  on  which  the  curses 
of  the  covenant  had  fallen.  Earthquakes,  levelling  the  walls 
of  many  cities,  had  paved  the  way  for  Mameluke  domination 
in  Syria ;  and  when  their  dominion  was  drawing  to  a  close, 
their  power  was  broken  by  the  renowned  Tamerlane,  and 
the  conquests  of  a  Tartar  prepared  the  way  for  the  subjec¬ 
tion  of  Syria  to  the  Ottoman  yoke. 

“  The  Syrian  emirs  were  assembled  at  Aleppo  to  repel 
the  invasion  ;  they  confided  in  the  fame  and  discipline  of  the 
Mamelukes,  in  the  temper  of  their  swords  and  lances  of  the 
purest  steel  of  Damascus,  in  the  strength  of  their  walled  cit- 
*  Do  Guigneo,  tom.  iii.,  p.  274.  f  Ibid.,  tom.  iv.,  p.  251. 


DURING  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 


205 


ies,  and  in  the  populousness  of  sixty  thousand  villages  ;  and, 
instead  of  sustaining  a  siege,  they  threw  open  their  gates, 
and  arrayed  their  forces  in  the  plain.  But  these  forces 
were  not  cemented  by  virtue  and  union,  and  some  powerful 
emirs  had  been  seduced' to  desert  or  betray  their  more  loyal 
companions.  Timour’s  front  was  covered  with  a  line  of  In¬ 
dian  elephants,  whose  turrets  were  filled  with  archers  and 
Greek  fire.  The  rapid  evolutions  of  his  cavalry  completed 
the  dismay  and  disorder;  the  Syrian  crowds  fell  back  on 
each  other :  many  thousands  were  stifled  or  slaughtered  in 
the  entrance  of  the  great  street ;  the  Moguls  entered  with 
the  fugitives,  and,  after  a  short  defence,  the  citadel— the 
impregnable  citadel  of  Aleppo — was  surrendered  by  coward¬ 
ice  or  treachery.  The  stress  of  Aleppo  streamed  with 
blood,  and  re-echoed  with  the  cries  of  mothers  and  children, 
with  the  shrieks  of  violated  virgins.  The  rich  plunder  that 
was  abandoned  to  his  soldiers  might  stimulate  their  avarice, 
but  their  cruelty  was  enforced  by  the  peremptory  command 
of  producing  an  adequate  number  of  heads,  which,  according 
to  his  custom,  were  curiously  piled  up  in  columns  and  pyr¬ 
amids.  The  Moguls  celebrated  the  feast  of  the  victory,  while 
the  surviving  Moslems  passed  the  night  in  tears  and  in 
chains.  I  shall  not  dwell  on  the  march  of  the  destroyer 
from  Aleppo  to  Damascus,  where  he  was  rudely  encounter¬ 
ed,  and  almost  overthrown,  by  the  armies  of  Egypt.  Aban¬ 
doned  by  their  prince,  the  inhabitants  of  Damascus  still  de¬ 
fended  their  walls,  and  Timour  eonsented  to  raise  the  siege 
if  they  would  adorn  his  retreat  with  a  gift  or  ransom,  each 
article  of  nine  pieces.  But  no  sooner  had  he  introduced 
himself  into  the  city,  under  colour  of  a  truce,  than  he  per¬ 
fidiously  violated  the  treaty,  imposed  a  contribution  of  ten 
millions  of  gold,  and  animated  his  troops  to  chastise  the  pos¬ 
terity  ot  those  Syrians  who  had  executed,  or  approved  the 
murder  of  the  grandson  of  Mohammed.  A  family  which  had 
given  honourable  burial  to  the  head  of  Hosein,  and  a  colony 
of  artificers  whom  he  sent  to  labour  at  Samarcand,  were  alone 
lescued  in  the  general  massacre  ;  and,  after  a  period  of  sev¬ 
en  centuries,  Damascus  was  reduced  to  ashes,  because  a 
Tartar  was  moved  by  religious  zeal  to  avenge  the  blood  of 
an  Arab.  Timour,  in  his  return  to  the  Euphrates,  delivered 
Aleppo  to  the  flames.*  In  the  pillage  of  Syria,  the  Moguls 
had  acquired  immense  riches.”! 

*  Gibbon,  vol.  xii.,  p.  23,  24. 


s 


t  Ibid.,  p.  25. 


206 


SKETCH  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  SYRIA. 


When  the  power  of  the  Mamelukes  was  thus  broken,  and 
the  Moguls  had  vanished  with  their  prey,  the  time  seemed 
to  be  come  when  Syria  could  free  itself  from  a  foreign  yoke  ; 
and  many  of  its  emirs,  stimulated  by  ambition  or  revenge, 
strove  to  cast  off  the  sovereignty  of  the  Sultan  of  Egypt. 
One  of  these,  Dgiakam,  declaring  for  the  rebels,  made  him¬ 
self  master  of  Tripoli,  Hamah,  and  Aleppo.  Another,  Sheik 
Mahmoud,  sent  an  army  to  take  Saphet  by  surprise  ;  but, 
failing  in  the  assault,  he  prepared  many  engines  to  throw 
(burning)  naphtha  and  stones  into  the  city,  and  (A.D.  1405) 
laid  siege  to  it  with  a  numerous  army  in  vain.*  Syria  be¬ 
came  the  scene  of  successive  civil  wars,  and  Egypt  was 
invaded  by  the  “  rebels.”  But  the  sultan,  with  an  unexam¬ 
pled  intrepidity,  pursued  them,  till,  driven  from  city  to  city. 
Sheik  Mahmoud  was  besieged  in  the  castle  of  Sarkud  be¬ 
yond  Bosra.  Thither  machines  were  transported  from  So- 
haiha,  Saphet,  and  Damascus,  which  were  raised  against  the 
castle,  and  from  which  stones  of  sixty  pounds’  weight  were 
thrown.  When  such  means  were  ineffectual,  another  ma¬ 
chine  of  still  larger  dimensions  and  power,  from  which  pro¬ 
jectiles  of  eighty-six  pounds  were  cast,  was  carried  from 
Damascus  in  separate  parts,  the  materials  of  which  formed 
the  burden  of  two  hundred  camels.  The  castle  was  finally 
delivered  up,  and  the  rebel  chief  resumed  the  government  of 
Tripoli  (A.D.  1409). f  New  revolts  succeeded,  and  new 
sieges  took  place.  The  governors  of  Gaza  and  Damascus 
raised  the  standard  of  rebellion,  and  were  joined  by  those  of 
Hamah,  Aleppo,  Roum,  Tripoli,  and  many  others  (A.D. 
1415).j:  When  the  Crusaders  had  long  ceased  to  descend 
in  armed  myriads  on  its  shores,  Syria  was  divided  against  it¬ 
self,  and  by  a  twofold  intestine  war  strove  to  cast  off  the  tyr¬ 
anny  of  Circassian  slaves,  the  lords  of  Egypt.  Again  and 
again  the  sultan  brought  his  armies  to  quell  the  insurrection¬ 
ary  commotions  and  to  perpetuate  the  bondage,  and  the  rav¬ 
ages  of  war  were  alternated  in  Egypt  and  Syria  till  the  sec¬ 
ond  dynasty  of  the  Mamelukes  was  brought  to  an  end  by  a 
foreign  power ;  for,  ere  a  third  part  of  the  fifteenth  century 
had  elapsed,  the  Ottomans,  more  fell  destroyers  hy  peace 
than  others  by  war,  overthrew  their  empire,  and  took  pos¬ 
session  of  Syria,  as  if  in  order  to  accomplish  what  such 
multitudinous  hosts  and  incessant  wars  could  not  effect,  and 

*  De  Guignes’  Hist.,  tom.  v.,  p.  294.  t  Ibid.,  p.  303,  304. 

t  Ibid.,  p.  311. 


STATE  OF  SYRIA  IN  THE  MIDDLE  AGES,  207 

« 

to  reduce  it,  in  the  progress  of  ages  of  decay,  to  the  last  de¬ 
gree  of  predicted  desolation  which  the  land  was  to  reach,  till 
its  expatriated,  but  still  covenanted,  children  should  return. 


CHAPTER  V. 

STATE  OF  SYRIA  IN  THE  MIDDLE  AGES,  ETC. 

The  Middle  Ages  may  be  said  to  present  to  view  the 
middle  stage  in  the  progress  of  the  general  desolation  and 
depopulation  of  Syria.  Of  cities  that  anciently  exulted  in 
their  opulence  and  splendour,  many  had  passed  into  oblivion. 
Jerusalem,  which  fell  an  easy  prey  to  20,000  Crusaders, 
was  not  like  that  Jerusalem  which  long  withstood  the 
might  of  imperial  Rome,  and  in  whose  fall  a  million  of 
human  victims  perished.  When  restored  after  many  cen¬ 
turies  to  be  the  metropolis  of  a  kingdom^  it  was  not  like  the 
city  in  which  Solomon  reigned :  and  scarcely  a  shadow 
of  his  glory  rested  on  the  heaven-stricken  hills  of  Judah, 
when,  after  the  close  of  many  crusading  wars,  an  Emperor 
of  Germany,  who  saw  little  more  of  the  land,  could  make 
a  mockery  of  the  kingdom  of  Jerusalem  compared  to  that  of 
Naples.  Antioch  could  not  boast  of  nine  hundred  thousand 
inhabitants,  when  it  could  yield  up  as  prisoners  but  a  ninth 
part  of  the  number,  at  a  time  when  the  Crusaders  finally 
lost  the  first  city  of  Syria  they  had  taken.  Nor  could  Kin- 
nesrin,  at  that  time  as  down  to  the  days  of  the  Saracens, 
pay,  besides  gold,  a  redeeming  tribute  of  figs  and  other 
fruits,  in  loads  told  by  the  thousand.  The  cities  and  towns 
of  Ephraim  and  Judah,  with  villages  attached  to  each,  were 
"not  then  numbered  by  hundreds,  as  in  the  days  of  Joshua  ; 
and  few  of  the  sixty  cities  of  the  kingdom  of  Bashan  re¬ 
mained  in  their  populousness  and  strength,  to  check  the 
ravages  and  impede  the  march  of  a  crusading  array.  Marks 
of  decay  were  manifest  throughout  the  land;  and  magnifi. 
cent  remains,  now  greatly  shrunk  in  their  dimensions,  be¬ 
spoke  magnificent  cities  then  no  more.  Ammon  was  a 
heap,  the  ancient  capital  of  Moab  a  village.  Capernaum, 
Chorazin,  Bethsaida,  were  no  longer  exalted  unto  heaven, 


208  STATE  OF  SYRIA  IN  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

but  lay  low  at  the  word  of  the  Lord,  whose  voice  in  the 
days  of  their  visitation  they  would  not  hear.  The  cities  of 
Galilee,  through  all  of  which  Jesus  had  preached,  were  not 
what  they  had  been  in  the  time  of  Josephus,  nor  could  the 
population  cope  with  what  in  had  been,  or  the  greatest  of 
their  villages,  as  the  least  had  done,  count  15,000  men. 
Of  the  cities  that  fell  in  the.  days  of  Vespasian,  or  were 
given  to  the  flames  and  devoted  to  utter  destruction  in  those 
of  Adrian,  few  had  risen.  When  invaded  by  the  Crusaders, 
many  parts  of  Syria  bore  witness  of  judgments :  and  fai 
less,  it  was  not,  in  the  midst  of  these  desolating  wars  oi 
after  they  had  ceased,  what  it  had  been  in  the  days  of  its 
prosperity  and  excellence,  when  millions  of  Israelites, 
blessed  of  the  Lord,  lacked  not  anything  in  the  land,  or 
even  when  subjugated  by  a  foreign  foe  it  was  ranked  by 
Pliny  as  “  formerly  the  greatest  of  countries.”* 

But,  fallen  as  it  was,  after  a  renewal  of  “  the  slow  rava¬ 
ges  of  despotism,”  and  after  spoiler  had  contended  with 
spoiler  to  seize  and  to  secure  it  for  a  prey,  and  strangers  had 
again  and  again  overthrown  and  devoured  it,  Syria  could 
still  attract  and  reward  new  spoliators ;  and  it  strove,  age 
after  age,  in  defiance  of  them  all,  to  maintain  its  natural  and 
rightful  designation  of  a  goodly  land ;  and,  in  fact,  held  out 
many  a  prize  for  which  nations  contended,  and  which,  when 
seized,  became  anew  a  bone  of  contention  between  princes, 
and  prelates,  and  kings.  Such  was  the  attractiveness  of 
one  of  the  first  cities  taken  by  the  Crusaders,  that  the  walls 
had  to  be  broken  down  that  it  might  not  keep  them  back 
from  the  deliverance  of  Jerusalem  :  and  however  much  the 
lips  of  talkers  in  after  ages  could  blaspheme  the  land,  and 
the  pens  of  scoffers  write  down  as  contemptible  villages 
most  of  the  cities  that  ever  had  existed  there,  yet  neither 
the  cities  nor  the  land  were  despised  or  defamed,  when  the 
most  powerful  monarchs  of  Europe,  with  their  hundreds  of 
knights  and  thousands  of  warriors,  toiled  in  vain  month  after 
month  before  them ;  and  when,  in  their  predatory  raids, 
they  carried  away  from  helpless  peasantry  such  an  abun¬ 
dance  of  spoil,  that  the  amount  could  not  be  told  in  their 
own  land,  as  capable  of  ever  being  realized  in  them  by  any 
spoliators. 

The  fact,  though  hitherto  little  regarded,  that  there  are 
direct  and  conclusive  records  of  the  statistical  or  geograph- 

*  Syria  quondam  terrarum  maxima. — Pliny,  Nat.  Hist.,  lib.  v.,  13. 


STATE  OF  SYRIA  IN  THE  MIDDLE  AGES.  209 

ical  state  of  Syria  in  the  Middle  Ages,  more  ample  and  de¬ 
tailed  than  the  most  ancient  geographers  or  historians  sup¬ 
ply,  is  well  worthy  of  a  passing  illustration,  as  it  may  serve 
to  show  how  great  are  the  blessings  guarantied  by  covenant 
to  Israel,  in  respect  to  the  same  territorial  possessions. 
Long  after  the  kingdom  had  been  established  with  David 
and  Solomon,  whose  sovereignty  was  owned  from  the  Med¬ 
iterranean  to  the  Euphrates,  and  from  the  Red  Sea  to  the 
entering  in  of  Hamath,  the  Prophet  Ezekiel,  looking  to  the 
time  of  the  restoration  of  the  kingdom  to  Israel,  records, 
*  among  precious  promises,  this  word  of  the  Lord  :  “  I  will 
settle  you  after  your  old  estates,  and  will  do  better  unto  you 
than  at  your  beginning.^’*  And  as  such  is  the  promise,  so 
assuredly  much  more,  when  the  mountains  of  Israel  shall 
shoot  forth  their  branches  and  yield  their  fruit  to  his  people 
Israel,  shall  the  Lord  do  far  better  unto  them  than  he  did  to 
those  fanatical  unbelievers  and  apostate  idolaters  who  defiled 
the  land  by  their  iniquities,  and  rent  it  asunder  by  their  mur¬ 
derous  wars  ;  to  whom  he  gave  his  pleasant  land  for  a  prey 
and  for  a  spoil  ;  and  as  to  whom,  though  his  sentence  against 
their  evil  works  was  not  executed  speedily,  yet  his  judg¬ 
ments  did  not  always  tarryL 

The  state  of  Syria  in  the  Middle  Ages  cannot,  wherever 
there  is  any  faith  in  the  promises  of  God,  be  taken  as  any 
adequate  measure  of  the  high  estate  which,  as  the  heritage 
of  Jacob,  it  is  destined  to  reach.  But  so  greatly  has  the 
land  of  Israel  become  an  infamy  among  the  people,  that 
there  is  reason  to  fear  that  the  estimate  in  the  minds  of 
many,  if  ever  formed  at  all,  of  the  excellence  of  Israel’s  ev¬ 
erlasting  inheritance,  would  be  exceeded,  on  comparison, 
by  what  the  cities  and  the  land  actually  were  when  they 
formed  the  alternate  prey  and  temporary  possession  of  Sar¬ 
acens,  Turks,  Carmathians,  Phatimites,  Franks,  Assassins, 
Kurds,  and  Tartars.  Such  false  impressions,  in  the  mind 
of  any  reader,  may  be  dissipated  by  a  glance  at  the  cities 
of  Syria  as  they  existed  then.  To  know  something  of  its 
goodliness,  we  may  look  on  its  aspect  before  the  pleasant 
land  finally  became  like  a  desolate  wilderness .  And  if  it 
retained  any  long-lingering  glory  in  such  troublous  times 
and  in  the  hands  of  such  iniquitous  strangers,  what  may  it 
not  become  when  the  covenant  with  Abraham  shall  be  re¬ 
alized,  and  the  land  which  the  Lord  espied  for  Israel,  as  the 

*  Ezek.,  ixxvi.,  11. 

S  2 


210  STATE  OP  SYRIA  IN  THE  MIDDL^'  AGES. 

glory  of  all  lands,  shall  in  peaceful  possession  be  their  own 
forever  ? 

The  geography  of  El-Edrisi  and  that  of  Abulfeda  contain 
brief  descriptions  of  the  most  important  cities,  towns,  and 
fortresses  of  Palestine,  as  they  existed  at  the  middle  of  the 
twelfth  and  the  beginning  of  the  fourteenth  century.  In  the 
intervening  period  of  a  hundred  and  fifty  years,  immediate¬ 
ly  subsequent  respectively  to  the  former  date  and  prior  to 
the  latter,  the  travels  of  Benjamin  of  Tudela  and  of  Broc- 
card  supply  corresponding  testimony.  The  writings  of  trav'- 
ellers  of  later  date  are  full  of  undoubted  facts,  which  amply  * 
show  how  slowly  Syria  sank  into  that  low  state  of  general 
desolation  to  which  it  has  now  been  reduced.  It  might  be 
said  of  many  places  throughout  the  land,  that  were  they 
now,  as  speedily  they  might  be,  only  what  they  were  not 
many  ages  past,  then  the  wilderness  would  be  a  fruitful 
field,  and  the  desert  would  rejoice  and  blossom  like  the 
rose ;  and  were  the  cities  to  be  what  they  Were  even  then, 
they  would  speedily  rank  among  the  fairest  and  richest  in 
the  world. 

Damascus,  before  its  destruction  by  Tamerlane,  was  one 
of  the  noblest  cities  in  the  world.  It  was  designated  in  the 
word  of  God,  pointing  even  to  the  latter  times,  the  city  of 
praise,  the  city  of  my  joy*  As  described  by  Edrisi  and 
Abulfeda,  its  situation  is  admirable,  its  climate  healthy  and 
temperate,  the  soil  rich,  its  waters  abundant,  the  productions 
varied,  the  riches  immense,  the  troops  numerous,  the  edifi¬ 
ces  superb.  The  villages  in  its  environs  were  like  towns. 
Than  the  valley  of  El  Gutha,  in  which  it  lay,  a  fairer  was 
nowhere  to  be  found.  It  was  reckoned  the  first  of  the  four 
Tempes,  which  surpassed  in  pleasantness  all  other  places 
on  earth,  and  extended  two  days’  journey  in  length  and  one 
in  breadth.  In  the  city  stood  a  temple  of  unequalled  splen¬ 
dour,  the  marble  of  which  occupied  twelve  thousand  oper¬ 
atives,  and  the  expenditure  of  which  was  estimated  at  four 
hundred  chests  (cistae)  of  gold,  each  of  which  contained 
fourteen  hundred  gold  solidi.  Before  the  west  gate  of  Da¬ 
mascus  lay  the  valley  of  violets,  twelve  miles  long  and  four 
broad,  covered,  as  it  were,  with  the  tapestry  of  richly-varie¬ 
gated  fruits,  at  once  beautiful  to  the  eye  and  delicious  to  the 
taste.  Continuous  gardens  extended  from  Damascus  to  Zeb- 
deni,  distant  eighteen  miles.  In  the  twelfth  century  Damas- 

*  .Ter.,  xlix.,  25. 


STATE  OF  SYRIA  IN  THE  MIDDLE  AGES.  211 

cus  ranked  only  as  one  of  the  most  noble  of  the  cities  of 
Syria,  even  when  it  shone  in  its  utmost  magnificence  ;  but, 
when  other  cities  were  brought  down  from  their  rivalry,  it 
became  the  noblest  of  them  all.* 

Antioch,  long  so  famous  in  the  history  of  Syria,  and  the 
seat  of  many  kings,  was  surrounded  by  walls  of  surprising 
solidity,  said  to  be  twelve  miles  in  circuit.  Its  markets 
were  most  flourishing,  its  edifices  magnificent,  its  commerce 
prosperous,  its  resources  and  productions  renowned.  In 
the  thirteenth  century  it  was  excelled  only  by  Damascus, 
as  one  of  the  most  delightful  cities  of  Syria,  with  villas,  and 
villages,  and  the  richest  territories.!  Souaidie  was  the 
outer  port  of  its  commerce,  in  the  vicinity  of  which  was  the 
fortified  and  populous  town  of  Herhade.\ 

Latikia,  or  Laodicea,  situated  on  the  coast,  on  the  oppo¬ 
site  side  of  the  Orontes,  was  a  populous  and  flourishing  city, 
with  resources  of  every  kind,  and  an  elegant  and  spacious 
harbour,  of  admirable  constructiom  A  large  and  beautiful 
monastery  adorned  the  city.  Its  vicinity  was  remarkable 
for  the  vast  productiveness  of  its  soil  and  the  density  of  its 
population.  § 

Hamath,  of  which,  says  Abulfeda,  mention  is  made  in  the 
Hebrew  Scriptures,  was  then  one  of  the  most  pleasant  cit¬ 
ies  of  Syria.  It  strong  and  lofty  citadel  was  beautifully 
constructed.il  Together  with  Schaizar,  it  was  famous  for 
the  great  number  of  machines  which  raised  the  water  from 
the  river  into  a  canal,  from  whence  it  flowed  through  con¬ 
duits  into  the  houses  and  gardens.  The  chief  temple  was 
converted  into  a  mosque.  Schaizar  was  also  fortified  by  a 
strong  citadel,  and  abounded  in  gardens  and  fruit-trees,  es¬ 
pecially  pomegranates. IF 

Hems  (Emesa),  a  strong  city,  situated  in  an  extremely 
fertile  and  populous  plain,  abounded  with  merchandise  of 
every  kind.  Its  bazars  were  plentifully  stored,  and  much 
frequented  from  all  quarters  of  the  world.  Its  inhabitants, 
leading  a  luxurious  life,  possessed  abundance  of  all  things.** 
But  its  extensive  vineyards,  which  Saracens  had  spared, 
were  repeatedly  ravaged  by  Crusaders,  and  almost  destroy- 

*  Recueil  de  la  Soci6t6  de  G6ograph.,  Paris,  1836,  tom.  v.,  p.  349-353.  G6og. 
d’Edrisi.  Abulfeda,  Tabula  Syrise,  p.  100-103.  Ibid.,  Ibn  01  Wardi,  p.  171-174. 
t  Edrisi,  ibid.,  tom.  vi.,  p.  131.  Abulfeda,  Tab.  Syriae,  p.  115,  116. 
i  Edrisi,  ibid.,  tom.  vi.,  p.  131,  132. 
t)  Abulfeda,  p.  112,  113.  Edrisi,  ibid.,  tom.  vi.,  p.  131. 

II  Abulfeda,  p.  108,  109.  IT  Ibid.,  Tab.  Syr.,  p.  110. 

**  Edrisi,  ibid,,  tom.  v.,  p.  357,  358.  Abulfeda,  Tab.  Syr.,  p.  104. 


212  STATE  OF  SYRIA  IN  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

ed.  Till  after  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  century  Hems 
was  surrounded  by  a  wall,  which  was  fortified  by  twenty-six 
towers.  Its  chief  mosque,  once  a  Christian  church,  sup¬ 
ported  by  thirty-four  marble  columns,  chiefly  variegated, 
was  seventy  paces  long  and  eighteen  broad.  Of  the  other 
churches,  one,  possessed  by  the  Saracens,  was  “  dedicated 
to  our  Lady,”  another,  also  supported  by  marble  pillars,  to 
the  Forty  Martyrs.  The  castle,  partly  ruined  (having,  like 
that  of  Hamath,  withstood  hard  and  long  sieges),  was,  by 
the  command  of  the  Grand  Signior,  neither  to  be  repaired 
nor  inhabited.  The  ditch  around  the  city  wall  was  filled 
with  ruins,  and,  in  the  progress  of  desolation,  not  one  half 
of  the  rich  valley  between  Hems  and  Hamath  was  culti¬ 
vated.* 

Baalhec  was  a  beautiful  city,  solidly  built,  intersected  by 
a  stream,  from  which  the  water  passed  by  conduits  into  the 
houses.  It  was  enriched  with  the  choicest  luxuries  ;  the 
soil  was  very  fruitful ;  the  corn  extremely  cheap.  The 
territory  of  Baalbec  produced  all  the  necessaries,  and  most 
of  the  luxuries  of  life ;  and  the  vines  and  other  fruit-trees 
yielded  a  more  abundant  produce  than  the  inhabitants  could 
consume.! 

Aleppo,  which  had  become  the  capital  of  Kinnesrin,  was 
a  large  and  populous  city  down  to  a  recent  period.  The 
number  of  inhabitants  at  Aleppo  has  been  computed,  says 
Dr.  Russel,  at  three  hundred  thousand  ;  but  it  is  now  con¬ 
jectured  (towards  the  close  of  last  century),  with  more 
probability,  that  they  do  not  exceed  two  hundred  and  thirty- 
five  thousand.!  It  was  surrounded  by  very  high  walls, 
constructed  of  hewn  stone,  in  large,  square  masses,  with 
towers  at  intervals  of  sixty  paces.  A  strong  citadel  in  the 
midst  of  the  city  had  a  high  tower,  which  was*  conspicuous 
at  the  distance  of  ten  miles.  The  suburbs  were  adorned 
with  magnificent  buildings  as  well  as  the  city,  the  most  ele¬ 
gant  of  which  were  hippodromes  for  equestrian  sports.  The 
most  spacious  churches  were  converted  into  mosques,  of 
one  of  which  the  tower  was  not  excelled  in  height  by  any 
in  Syria.  To  the  wonder  of  many,  the  walls  of  the  church 
of  St.  John,  carved  with  pictures  of  the  saints,  remained 
untouched  ;  but  they  were  shut  up  from  view,  as  an  abom- 

*  Thevenot’s  Travels  (A.D.  1655),  p.  223,  224. 

t  Abulfeda,  p.  103.  Ibn  01  Wardi,  p.  187.  Edrisi,  ibid.,  tom.  v.,  p.  353,  354. 

j  Russel’s  Aleppo,  p.  97,  98. 


STATE  OF  SYRIA  IN  THE  MIDDLE  AGES.  213 


ination  to  the  Mohammedans.  The  city  contained  many 
grand  khans  or  caravanseras,  which  were  stored  with  all 
varieties  of  the  richest  merchandise,  and  frequented  from 
every  quarter.* 

Aintab  was  a  beautiful  and  large  city,  with  a  citadel  cut 
out  of  the  live  rock,  and  very  strongly  fortified,  abounding 
in  well-watered  gardens,  famous  for  its  markets,  and  much 
frequented  by  merchants  and  travellers.! 

Sarmin  was  the  capital  of  an  extensive  prefecture,  which 
contained  many  villages.  It  rejoiced  in  the  abundance  of 
its  olives  and  other  trees,  and  in  a  fruitful  soil,  and  was 
adorned  with  a  forum  and  large  mosque.  In  its  vicinity 
were  forests  of  pistachio-trees.j: 

Maarah  was  a  strongly-fortified  city,  and,  like  many 
others,  the  see  of  a  bishop.  In  the  thirteenth  century  it 
was  a  populous  city,  abounding  in  ail  sorts  of  luxuries  ;  and 
though  it  had  sunk  into  a  small  village  in  the  seventeenth 
century,  its  khan  was  so  spacious  as  to  lodge  with  ease 
eight  hundred  men  and  their  horses. § 

Nearly  midway  between  Antioch  and  Apamea  stood  the 
fortresses  of  Asshoghar  and  Bacas,  on  the  River  Orontes, 
which  abounded  in  fruitful  gardens.  To  these  forts  a  large 
mosque  was  attached,  and  a  market-place  in  its  vicinity 
was  crowded  weekly  by  multitudes. || 

Tripoli  was  a  large  city,  well  fortified,  and  surrounded 
by  pleasant  villages  and  fauxbourgs,  the  lands  around  plant¬ 
ed  with  olives,  vines,  and  other  fruit-trees,  and  sugar-canes. 
It  was  one  of  the  entrephts  of  Syria,  full  of  all  manner 
of  merchandise,  or  articles  of  commerce.  Several  forts 
were  dependances  of  Tripoli,  of  which  four  are  mentioned 
by  Edrisi.  The  most  renowned  of  its  villages  were  Chaki- 
kie,  Zenbourie,  Raabie,  Harth,  and  Amioun,  which,  as  well 
as  the  rest,  possessed  abundantly  plantations  of  olives  and 
other  fruits.  Three  forts,  at  short  distances,  lay  between 
Tripoli  and  Area,  a  populous  city,  with  a  lofty  citadel  and 
a  large  faubourg.  The  river  that  flowed  beside  the  city  wa¬ 
tered  numerous  vineyards  and  plantations  of  sugar-cane.^ 
Sidon  was  a  large  and  well-built  city.  Its  markets  were 
furnished  with  all  varieties  of  merchandise,  its  gardens  co¬ 
piously  irrigated  and  full  of  fruits.  It  had  large  depend- 

*  Edrisi,  ibid.,  tom.  vi.,  p.  136.  Tab.  Syriae.  Ibn  01  Wardi,  p.  188-190.  Coto- 
nci  Itiner.,  p.  107-109.  Russel’s  Aleppo.  t  Abulfeda,  Tab.  Syr.,  p.  121,  122. 

t  Ibid.,  p.  115.  Rauwolff’s  Travels,  p.  59.  (>  Abulfeda,  p.  Ill,  112.  Theveuot. 

II  Ibid.,  p.  124.  Y  Edrisi,  ibid.,  tom.  v.,  p  356,  357- 


214  STATE  OF  SYRIA  IN  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

ances,  which  were  divided  into  four  districts,  whicn  ex¬ 
tended  to  Lebanon  ;  that  of  Har,  renowned  for  its  fertility  ; 
of  Cherbe,  alike  delicious  ;  of  Kafr-Keilan  and  of  El-Rami, 
named  from  a  stream  that  flowed  down  from  the  mountains 
and  rushed  to  the  sea.  These  united  districts  comprised 
nearly  six  hundred  villages.*  And  thus,  even  in  the  twelfth 
century,  shrunk  as  Sidon  the  great  then  w^as,  and  circum¬ 
scribed  its  territory,  there  was  still  a  rich  meaning  in  the 
words  of  the  covenant,  devoting  what  they  never  yet  have 
inherited,  all  the  Sidonians,  and  the  territory  they  possess¬ 
ed,  to  the  inheritance  of  Israel. 

Beirout  was  surrounded  by  a  strong  wall.  From  the  iron 
mines  in  the  adjoining  mountain,  metal  susceptible  of  ex¬ 
cellent  temper  was  extracted,  and  sold  extensively  through¬ 
out  all  Syria. 

Askelon  was  a  fine  city,  surrounded  by  a  double  wall, 
EdDOunding  in  gardens  and  fruits,  and  rich  in  olives,  vines, 
nuts,  and  pomegranates.  All  commodities  were  extremely 
cheap,  and  the  soil  most  fruitful.!  Askelon,  Arsouf,  and 
Jaffa,  maritime  cities  of  Palestine,  greatly  resembled  each 
other  in  extent,  in  charms,  and  the  state  of  their  inhabi¬ 
tants — all  beautiful  cities,  well  fortified  and  populous,  and 
surrounded  by  quaptities  of  vines  and  olives.  Jaffa,  partic¬ 
ularly,  was  the  port  of  Jerusalem. J  To  the  south  of  Jeru¬ 
salem  were  two  beautiful  districts,  viz.,  Hamal,  of  which 
the  capital  was  Darab,  and  Clierat,  of  which  the  capital  was 
Adrah.  These  regions  were  extremely  fertile,  producing 
figs,  almonds,  and  pomegranates  in  abundance. §  El-Arish 
had  two  mosques  of  remarkable  construction.  Its  sandy 
territory  produced  dates  and  various  other  fruits.  1| 

The  town  of  Aaglun  (Ajalon),  east  of  the  Jordan,  was 
strongly  fortified  by  its  famous  castle,  built  or  rebuilt  in  the 
fourteenth  century.  It  rejoiced  in  its  streams,  and  gardens, 
and  fruits,  and  most  fertile  soil.^ 

As-Salt  was  a  strong  town,  fortified  by  a  citadel,  and  wa¬ 
tered  by  a  large  fountain  :  it  rejoiced  in  its  numerous  gar¬ 
dens.  From  the  fame  of  their  excellence,  says  the  Prince 
of  Hamath,  its  pomegranates  were  exported  to  all  quarters 
of  the  world.** 

Bozra,  the  capital  of  the  Haouran,  had  a  castle  of  the 

*  Edrisi,  tom.  v.,  p.  354,  355.  f  Tabula  SyrijE.  Ibn  OlWardi,  p.  179. 

t  Ibid.,  p.  348.  .i)  Edrisi,  ibid.,  tom.  v.,  p.  340,  341. 

U  Ibid.,  p.  340.  IT  Abulfeda,  Tab.  Syr.,  p.  13.  **  Ibid.,  p.  92 


STATE  OF  SYRIA  IN  THE  MIDDLE  AGES.  215 

firmest  construction.  Scharchod,  a  small  town,  was  forti¬ 
fied  by  an  excellent  citadel,  and  encompassed  by  numerous 
vineyards.*  A  royal  highway  extended  eastward  from  it 
to  Persia,  the  distance  to  Bagdad,  according  to  the  then  ex¬ 
isting  itineraries,  being  ten  days’  journey.  Fortijied  with 
mounds^  it  bore  the  name  of  Ar  Raszif.] 

Little  has  been  told  of  the  number  and  maonificence  of 

o 

the  cities  of  Syria,  that  have  yet  to  arise  from  their  ruins 
in  greater  glory  than  ever.  Abulfeda,  however  briefly,  gives 
in  his  geography  a  short  separate  description  of  more  than 
a  hundred  cities,  towns,  and  citadels,  as  the  most  distin¬ 
guished  or  celebrated  in  Syria.  Though  his  work  is  chiefly 
occupied  in  marking  their  positions,  the  latitude  and  longi¬ 
tude  of  upward  of  sixty  of  them  being  given  in  a  table,  yet 
most  of  them,  as  well  as  those  above  noted,  are  described 
as  rejoicing  in  fountains  or  streams,  and  in  gardens  or  fruits. 
Syria  even  then,  in  the  fourteenth  century,  had  not  altogeth¬ 
er  lost  the  character  which  Pliny  gave  it,  as  a  country 
abounding  exceedingly  in  gardens.  Tiberias  and  Jericho, 
together  with  the  intervening  region,  the  valley  of  the  Jor¬ 
dan,  and  El-Arish  on  the  borders  of  the  desert,  could  still 
show  that,  though  comparatively  few,  there  still  were  palms 
to  vindicate  the  fame  which  they  gave  to  Judea  in  the  days 
of  that  eminent  naturalist :  the  palm  and  the  balsam,  which 
an  Italian  climate  could  not  rear,  retained  their  station  in 
Judea  :  and  trees  which  he  noted  as  peculiar  to  Judea,  and 
which,  transported  from  thence,  were  indigenous  in  Italy, 
continued,  though  often  degenerating  into  wildness,  in  their 
native  clime.  Of  these  he  specifies  the  pistachio  nut,  vari¬ 
ous  kinds  of  plants,  the  juniper,  the  cedar,  and  the  terebinth 
tree.J  The  vegetables,  or  pot-herbs  of  Syria,  which,  ac¬ 
cording  to  his  testimony,  were  varied  and  abundant,  could 
still  astonish,  by  their  variety,  their  richness,  size,  and  num¬ 
ber,  the  European  traveller  in  ages  far  less  remote  from  our 
own. 

Two  or  three  centuries  ago,  many  regions  of  Syria,  un¬ 
blasted  by  permanent  desolation,  though  often  ravaged  by 
successive  desolators,  continued  long  to  bear  witness,  by 
their  vast  profusion,  to  the  prodigality  of  the  gifts  of  Nature  j 
and  from  Amanus  on  the  north  of  Syria,  and  Beerith  on 
the  Euphrates,  to  the  borders  of  Egypt,  presented  scenes 

*  Abulfeda,  Tab  Syr.,  p.  99,  105,  106. .  t  Ibid.,  p.  106. 

t  Kin.,  Nat.  Hist.,  lib.  xiii.,  c.  10,  11,  12. 


216  STATE  OP  SYRIA  IN  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 


of  luxurious  loveliness  without  a  parallel  in  less  favoured 
climes. 

In  ascending  Beilan,  the  ancient  Amanus,  the  traveller, 
in  the  sixteenth  century,  passed  through  thick  and  shady 
woods,  in  which  planes,  larches,  firs,  beech,  oaks,  cedars, 
laurels,  and  myrtles  were  intermingled.  From  the  summit 
of  the  mountain,  covered  with  cedars,  junipers,  and  andrach- 
nes,  a  magnificent  and  extensive  view  spread  forth  before 
him  on  every  side.  Looking  to  the  south — as  Israel,  when 
her  name  shall  be  Beulah,  married,  and  when  she  shall  no 
longer  be  termed  Forsaken,  shall  yet  look  from  the  top  of 
Amanus — he  beheld  the  widespread  Lake  of  Antioch  mir¬ 
rored  at  his  feet,  a  most  extensive  valley,  the  city  of  Anti¬ 
och  itself,  with  the  hills,  and  all  the  mountains  around  it ; 
while  to  the  west,  the  more  lowly  hills,  and  narrower,  but 
most  fertile  valleys,  and  thick  woods,  filled  up  all  the  inter¬ 
vening  space,  till  the  view  was  bounded  by  the  Mediterra¬ 
nean  Sea.* 

“  At  Aleppo,''’  says  Dr.  Rauwolff,  “  there  are  abundance  of 
delicate  orchards,  that  are  filled  with  oranges,  citrons,  lem¬ 
ons,  Adam’s  apples,  Sebesten  peaches,  morellos,  and  pome¬ 
granates,  &c.  The  valley  is**  full  of  olive-trees,  so  that, 
several  thousand  hundred-weight  of  oil  are  made  yearly. 
There  is  also  a  great  quantity  of  tame  and  wild  almond 
trees,  of  figs,  of  quince  and  white  mulberry  trees,  very  high 
and  large.  Pistachio-trees  are  very  common  in  the  fields, 
bearing  nuts,  like  grapes,  in  clusters  together.”!  “  Garden- 
plants  and  kitchen-herbs,  without  as  within  the  gardens, 
were  in  vast  variety  and  abundance,  including  watermelons, 
very  large  and  delicious,  pumpions,  citrals,  &c.,  and  many 
other  rich  but  strange  plants,  unknown  to  the  European 
traveller.  Barley,  wheat,  and  various  kinds  of  pulse  were 
abundant,  their  harvest  commonly  commencing  in  April  or 
May.”J  “  In  the  great  plain  near  Tripoli,”  says  the  same 
observant  traveller,  “  you  see  abundance  of  vineyards,  and 
very  fine  gardens,  enclosed  in  hedges,  chiefly  consisting  of 
rharnus,  alicorus,  oxyacantha,  phillyria,  lycium,  bataustinum, 
rubus,  and  little  palm-trees,  that  are  but  low,  and  so  sprout 
and  spread  themselves,  and  containing  all  sorts  of  salads 
and  kitchen-herbs,  besides  fruits,  as  watermelons,  melons, 
gourds,  citrals,  melongena,  sesamum,  and  the  cola  cassia, 

*  Itinerarium  Cotovici,  p.  501. 

I  Rauwollf’s  Trav.,  A.D.  1573,  p.  64,  102,  &c.  i  Ibid.,  p.  65,  67. 


STATE  OF  SYRIA  IN  THE  MIDDLE  AGES.  217 


which  is  very  common.  Without  the  gardens,  also,  are 
many  date  and  mulberry  trees,  pomegranate  and  siliqua,  ol¬ 
ive  and  almond  trees,  Adam’s  apples,  &c. ;  while  citrons, 
lemons,  and  oranges  are  in  so  great  plenty,  that  they  are  as 
little  regarded  as  pears  or  oats  in  Holland.  Between  these 
gardens  run  several  roads  and  pleasant  walks,  which  afford 
many  shady  places  in  summer  ;  and  if,  passing  through,  you 
have  -a  mind  to  some  of  the  fruits,  you  may  either  gather 
some  that  are  fallen  down,  or  else  pull  them  from  the  near¬ 
est  trees  without  danger,  and  take  them  home  with  you.”* 
In  the  adjacent  grounds  are  great  quantities  of  sugar-canes, 
from  which  much  sugar  is  made  yearly.  Sycamore-trees, 
bearing  fruit  not  unlike  the  fig,  grow  in  all  fields  and  grounds, 
yielding  fruit  three  or  four  times  yearly,  which  is  found  upon 
the  trees  all  the  year  long.  How  abundant  these  anciently 
were  in  the  plains  of  Palestine  may  be  inferred  from  the  il¬ 
lustration  which  they  gave  of  plenteousness  in  the  days  of 
Solomon,  who  made  cedar-trees  like  the  sycamores  that  are 
in  the  plains  for  abundance.  Producing  fruits  almost  con¬ 
tinually,  the  gathering  of  them  formed  a  peculiar  occupation, 
associated,  as  in  the  case  of  Amos,  with  that  of  a  herdsman. 
Tripoli  could  also  boast  of  abundance  of  corn-fields,  as  of 
vineyards  and  of  olive  groves,  that  extended  quite  up  to 
Lebanon.! 

Down  to  a  still  more  recent  period,  many  gardens  in 
Syria  were  worthy  of  the  ancient  fame,  justly  once  bestow¬ 
ed  upon  them  all,  and  retained  a  richness  and  a  beauty  of 
which  Turkish  barbarism,  conjoined  with  Arab  spoliation, 
has  since  bereaved  them.  Of  this  fact  a  few  illustrations 
may  be  given.  For  half  a  day’s  journey  from  Tripoli,  the 
most  pleasant  and  fruitful  plains  abounded  with 'fruit-trees, 
olives,  and  vines  ;  several  gardens  were  full  of  excellent 
orange-trees.  So,  also,  were  the  gardens  of  Napolous. 
Tiberias  could  still  boast  of  the  abundance  of  its  palm-trees. 
Hamath,  amid  its  many  gardens,  had  some  full  of  orange- 
trees  by  the  river’s  side.  The  hills  in  the  neighbourhood 
of  Baalbec  were  mostly  covered  with  vineyards,  which  pro¬ 
duced  celebrated  grapes.j;  Of  Saide,  where  a  great  silk 
trade  was  carried  on,  it  was  a  saying,  “  So  soon  as  they 
can  get  but  a  little  piece  of  rock,  if  they  can  make  two  fin¬ 
gers’  breadth  of  earth  upon  it,  there  they  plant  a  mulberry- 


*  RauwollPs  Trav.,  p.  21,  22. 

I  Van  Effinont  and  Hevman’s  Travels,  vol.  ii.,  p.  272. 

T 


t  Ibid.,  p.  4&-51. 


218  STATE  OF  SYRIA  IN  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 


tree  at  Saide.”  To 'the  south  of  Beyrout,  a  forest  of  pines 
extended  to  Mount  Lebanon,  over  a  space  of  twelve  miles 
on  every  side.  The  orange  garden  of  Faccardine,  a  prince 
of  the  Druses,  who  had  visited  Italy,  may  be  an  illustration 
of  what  Syria  might  be,  with  such  paradises  spread  over  it, 
were  truth  to  prevail,  and  war  to  cease,  and  art  to  be  com¬ 
bined  with  soil  and  climate  to  render  it  a  glorious  land.  “  It 
contained,”  as  described  by  Maundrell  at  the  close  of  the 
seventeenth  century,  “  a  large  quadrangular  plat  of  ground, 
divided  into  sixteen  lesser  squares,  four  in  each  row,  with 
walks  between  them.  The  walks  are  shaded  with  orange- 
trees,  of  a  large,  spreading  size,  and  all  of  so  fine  a  growth, 
both  for  stem  and  head,  that  one  cannot  imagine  anything 
more  perfect  in  their  kind.  They  were,  at  the  time  when 
we  were  there,  as  it  were,  gilded  with  fruit,  hanging  thick¬ 
er  upon  them  than  ever  I  saw  apples  in  England.  Every 
one  of  these  sixteen  lesser  squares  in  the  garden  was  bor¬ 
dered  with  stone  ;  and  in  the  stonework  were  troughs  very 
artificially  contrived,  for  conveying  the  water  all  over  the 
garden,  there  being  little  outlets  cut  at  every  tree  for  the 
stream,  as  it  passed  by,  to  flow  out  and  water  it.  Were 
this  place  under  the  cultivation  of  an  English  gardener,  it 
is  impossible  anything  could  be  made  more  delightful.  But 
these  hesperides  w'ere  put  to  no  better  use,  when  we  saw 
them,  than  to  serve  as  a  fold  for  sheep  and  goats,  insomuch 
that  in  many  places  they  were  up  to  the  knees  in  dirt,  so 
little  sense  have  the  Turks  of  such  refined  delights  as  these, 
<fcc.  On  the  east  side  of  this  garden  were  two  terrace 
walks,  rising  one  above  the  other,  each  of  them  having  an 
ascent  to  it  of  twelve  steps.  They  had  both  several  fine, 
spreading  orange-trees  upon  them,  to  make  shades  in  prop¬ 
er  places,  and  at  the  north  end  they  led  into  booths,  and 
summer  houses,  and  other  apartments  very  delightful.”* 
While,  in  the  progress  of  desolation,  the  proofs  that  Syr¬ 
ia  had  once  been  a  glorious  land,  in  which  the  inhabitants 
lacked  not  anything.,  were  ever  diminishing  generation  after 
generation,  there  were  still  some  signs,  down  to  the  last  cen¬ 
tury,  as  there  are  some  in  the  present,  of  what  it  once  had 
been,  and  how  it  might  be  turned  into  a  garden  again.  But 
the  general  description  by  which  it  was  delineated  five  or 
six  centuries  ago,  or  even  within  half  that  period,  when  sub¬ 
jugated  by  the  Ottoman  Turks,  would,  except  as  to  its  un- 

*  Maundrell’s  Travels,  p.  59. 


STATE  OF  SYRIA  IN  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 


219 


changed  natural  fertility,  ill  befit  it  in  the  present  day.  In 
the  eleventh  century,  an  eyewitness  could  thus  describe 
what  he  saw.  “  The  soil  [of  the  Holy  Land]  is  itself  most 
fruitful  in  corn,  so  that  it  yields  a  large  produce  with  the 
slightest  labour.  It  is  naturally  so  rich  that  it  needs  no  ma¬ 
nure.  Cotton  is  cultivated.  Sugar-canes  also  grow,  from 
which  sugar  of  the  finest  quality  is  made.  I  ingenuously 
confess  that  apples  and  pears,  and  similar  fruits,  do  not  grow 
in  the  Holy  Land,  but  they  are  brought  from  Damascus, 
though  from  the  heat  they  cannot  be  long  preserved.  But  in¬ 
stead  of  them  they  have  other  fruits,  which  are  preserved  on 
the  trees  throughout  the  year,  for  you  often  at  the  same  time 
see  the  same  tree  bearing  both  blossom  and  ripe  fruit.  From 
these  the  inhabitants  make  various  preserves,  &;c.,  with 
which  they  enrich  their  food,  whether  of  bread,  flesh,  fish,  or 
other  meats.  They  have  also  large  citrons,  from  which  they 
make  the  finest  confections.  They  have  also  other  excellent 
and  wonderful  apples,  called  the  apples  of  Paradise,  which 
grow  in  clusters  like  grapes,  so  that  frequently  a  hundred  ap¬ 
ples  may  be  seen  on  a  single  bunch  (simul  conglobata). 
There  are  many  vines  in  the  Holy  Land,  and  there  would  be 
more  if  the  Saracens  were  not  prohibited  from  the  use  of  wine. 
Holding  the  greater  part  of  Palestine  in  subjection,  they  root 
out  the  vines  wherever  they  find  them.  The  best  vines  are 
grown  in  the  valley  of  Bethlehem,  and  in  Nehel-Eschol,  and 
also  near  Sidon,  Antaradus,  and  under  Mount  Lei^anon ; 
and,  as  the  inhabitants  of  Antaradus  told  me,  they  collect 
wine  from  the  same  vine  three  times  a  year,  that  is,  they 
have  in  one  year  three  gatherings  of  grapes  ;  for  when  the 
vine  has  brought  forth  the  accustomed  clusters  in  March, 
the  wood  which  is  without  fruit  is  cut  off,  and  then,  from 
the  stem  that  is  left,  new  shoots  bearing  fruit-buds  sprout 
forth,  which  being  cut  off,  produce  new  branches  in  May 
that  bear  late  grapes.  By  this  art,  the  ripe  grapes  in  Au¬ 
gust  require  three  gatherings.  The  second,  that  blossomed 
in  April,  are  gleaned  in  September,  and  the  third  in  October. 
Hence  it  is  that  in  the  Holy  Land  grapes  are  sold  from  the 
day  of  John  the  Baptist  to  the  day  of  St.  Martin  (from  the 
24th  of  June  to  the  11th  of  November).  In  that  land  they 
have  also  figs,  pomegranates,  honey,  olive  oil,  cucumbers, 
melons,  citrons,  and  many  other  fruits.  The  corn  is  also 
very  fine,  so  that  I  never  ate  better  bread  than  in  Jerusalem! 
Deer,  hares,  partridges,  wild  boars,  quails,  &c.,  abound  in 


220  PROGRESSIVE  DESOLATION  OF  SYRIA. 

the  Holy  Land,  and  camels  are  most  numerous”*  (A.D. 
1283). 

In  the  fourteenth  century  Syria  had  not  lost  its  title  to  be 
reckoned,  in  fact,  as  a  goodly  land.  It  was  in  that  age  brief¬ 
ly  described  by  Ibn  01  Wardi,  in  the  first  words  of  the  ge¬ 
ographical  extract  affixed,  in  the  Leipsic  edition  (A.D.  1756), 
to  Abulfeda’s  Syria,  as  “  an  extensive  region  abounding  with 
all  good  things,  having  gardens,  paradises,  woods,  meadows, 
delicious  valleys,  varieties  of  fruits,  and  abundance  of  cattle. 
It  then  contained  thirty  fortresses.”! 

The  curses  of  a  broken  covenant  had  not  then  all  fallen 
with  their  utmost  weight  upon  the  land,  nor  had  the  time 
then  come  when  the  fortress  should  finally  cease  from 
Ephraim^  and  the  land  be  utterly  desolate,  and  the  cities 
desolate  without  inhabitants,  and  the  houses  without  man. 
And  reduced  as  it  was  from  what  it  had  been,  yet  in  popu¬ 
lation  and  in  produce  far  more  than  a  tenth  was  left;  and 
the  time  was  not  come  when  they  who  laid  the  land  deso¬ 
late  should  go  forth  out  of  it,  and  the  wanderers  among  the 
nations  for  many  centuries  should  find  at  last  a  home  as  Ja¬ 
cob’s  children  in  Jacob’s  heritage.  The  second  wo  had  first 
to  do  all  its  work,  and  the  land  of  Israel  had  to  be  subjected 
for  centuries  to  Ottoman  government  and  Arab  spoliation. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

PROGRESSIVE  DESOLATION  OF  SYRIA. 

Before  proceeding  to  the  melancholy  review  of  the 
ruins  which  now  overspread  Syria,  even  as  it  was  for 
ages  overspread  with  ancient  and  flourishing  cities, 
towns,  and  villages,  and  unfolding  the  record  which  the 
judgment-stricken  land  does  bear,  and  thereby  showing 
their  number  and  their  names  more  fully  than  any  scrip¬ 
tural  or  other  historical  record  has  borne,  it  may  be 
worth  a  moment’s  pause  to  glance  at  a  few  illustrations 
of  the  last  stage  of  a  long  course  of  desolation,  and  to 
note  the  difference  between  what  was,  when  Edrisi,  Abul- 

*  TerriE  SanctiB  Descriptio.  Brocardo.  Orbis  Novus,  p.  281,  282. 
t  Tabula  Syri®,  p.  169. 


PROGRESSIVE  DESOLATION  OF  SYRIA. 


221 


feda,  and  Ibn  01  Ward!  wrote,  and  what  is,  as  every 
modern  traveller,  in  altered  terms  from  theirs,  repeats 
the  tale  concerning  cities  that  now  “rejoice”  not,  and 
fortresses  that  boast  no  more. 

“  From  Zebdeni  there  were  continuous  gardens  even 
to  Damascus.”  “  The  plain  of  Zebdeni,”  which  lies  be¬ 
tween  it  and  Damascus,  “  is  about  three  quarters  of  an 
hour  in  breadth,  and  three  hours  in  length.  It  is  watered 
by  the  Barada,  one  of  whose  sources  is  in  the  midst  of 
it.  We  followed  it  from  one  end  to  the  other.  Its  cul¬ 
tivable  ground  is  waste  till  near  the  village  of  Beroudj, 
where  I  saw  plantations  of  mulberry-trees,  which  seemed 
to  be  well  taken  care  of.  Half  an  hour  from  Beroudj  is 
the  village  of  Zebdeni,  and  between  them  the  ruined 
Khan  Benduk.”*  “  Zebdeni  to  Damascus. — The  valley 
of  Zebdeni  appeared  quite  uncultivated,  though  the  soil 
is  good,  and  it  is  watered  by  the  Barada  and  several 
other  streams.”! 

“  Antioch,”  five  centuries  ago,  “  surrounded  by  huge 
walls,  was  a  great  city,  next  to  Damascus  the  most  de¬ 
lightful  city  in  Syria.”  “  The  present  town,  which  is 
a  miserable  one,  does  not  occupy  more  than  one  eighth 
part  of  the  space  included  in  the  old  walls,  which  have  a 
fine,  venerable  appearance.”! 

“  Majaf  (which  lies  more  than  midway  between  Emesa 
and  the  sea)  is  a  famous  city,  with  meandering  streams, 
flowing  from  fountains,  from  which  the  gardens  are  irri¬ 
gated. ”§  “  The  town  of  Maszyad  (or,  as  it  is  written  in 

the  books  of  the  Miri,  Meszyadf),  surrounded  by  a  mod¬ 
ern  wall,  is  upward  of  half  an  hour  (two  miles)  in  cir 
cumference,  but  the  houses  are  in  ruins,  and  there  is  not 
a  single  well-built  dwelling  in  the  town,  although  stone 
is  the  only  material  used.  It  is  (A.D.  1810)  inhabited 
by  280  families.  The  castle,  built  upon  a  high  and  al¬ 
most  perpendicular  rock,  commands  the  wild  moor  in  ev¬ 
ery  direction,  presenting  a  gloomy  romantic  landscape. ”|1 

Baalbec  was  “  a  beautiful  city,  solidly  built,  and  rich  in 
the  choicest  luxuries,”  &c.  “The  walls  of  the  ancient 
city  may  still  be  traced,  and  include  a  larger  space  than 
the  present  town  ever  occupied,  even  in  its  most  flour- 

*  Bur(?khardt’s  Syria,  p.  3.  t  Travels  in  Syria,  by  G.  Robinson,  Esq.,  1830. 

t  Irby  and  Mangles,  p.  229.  ^  Abul.,  Tab.  Syriae,  p.  20. 

II  Burckhardt’s  Travels,  p.  150. 

T 


222  PROGRESSIVE  DESOLATION  OF  SYRIA. 

ishing  state.”  The  ruined  town  of  Baalbec  contained, 
when  visited  by  Burckhardt,  about  seventy  Metaweli 
families,  and  twenty-five  of  catholic  Christians.  The 
earth  is  extremely  fertile.  “Even  so  late  as  twelve 
years  ago,”  as  he  relates,  “  the  plain,  and  a  part  of  the 
mountain,  to  the  distance  of  a  league  and  a  half  round 
the  town,  were  covered  with  grape  plantations ;  the  op¬ 
pressions  of  the  governors  and  their  satellites  have  now 
entirely  destroyed  them  ;  and  the  inhabitants  of  Baal¬ 
bec,  instead  of  eating  their  own  grapes,  which  were  re¬ 
nowned  for  their  superior  flavour,  are  obliged  to  import 
them  from  Fursul  and  Zahle.”*  The  progress  of  des¬ 
olation  did  not  then  cease  over  the  ruins  of  the  city  of 
Baal.  In  1830,  or  twenty  years  thereafter,  Mr.  Robin¬ 
son  thus  writes:  On  entering  Baalbec,  “a  sad  scene  of 
ruin  and  desolation  presented  itself  on  every  side,  a  sol¬ 
itary  house  or  two  on  each  street  alone  remaining,  and 
even  these  tenantless,  or  only  temporarily  occupied  by 
Arab  shepherds  and  their  flocks.”t 

Kuat,  Saramain^  and  Maarat  Mesrin,  situated  a  day’s 
journey  south  of  Aleppo,  were  three  cities  worthy  to  be 
ranked  among  the  celebrated  towns  of  Syria.  Their 
territory,  which  lay  in  the  vicinity  of  that  of  the  ancient 
Colchis,  could  still  boast,  in  the  fourteenth  century,  a 
multitude  of  olives,  figs,  and  a  variety  of  other  trees. 
Sarmin,  situated  in  a  fruitful  soil,  embraced  in  its  pre¬ 
fecture  many  villages. J  “  We  went,”  says  Pococke,  “  to 
see  several  fine  ruins  of  ancient  towns  and  villages, 
south  of  Sarmin.  In  Rany,  Magnesia,  and  Ashy,  we 
saw  ruins  of  villages  built  of  hewn  stones.”  Kuph  (the 
only  name  he  mentions  which  at  all  resembles  Kuat)  is 
a  ruined  village  of  such  extent,  that  it  looked  like  the 
remains  of  a  large  town.  Marrah,  from  being  a  popu¬ 
lous  city,  was  then  reduced  to  a  poor  little  town,  and  is 
now  a  “  poor  little  village.”  Remarkable  as  it  is  for 
the  great  number  of  ancient  cisterns  and  wells  hewn  in 
the  rock  which  it  still  exhibits,  Sarmin^  no  longer  the 
chief  city  of  a  rich  district,  has  now  sunk  into  a  “  vil¬ 
lage  ;”  and  where  the  olive,  the  fig,  and  other  trees 
adorned  the  city  and  the  surrounding  region,  “a  few 
clumps  of  olives,”  in  a  “  country  otherwise  destitute  of 

*  Burckhardt’s  Travels,  p.  10,  13,  15  t  Robinson’s  Travels,  p.  93, 

%  Abulfeda,  p,  21,  23,  111,  115. 


I 


PROGRESSIVE  DESOLATION  OF  SYRIA. 


223 


wood  and  naked,”*"  have  themselves  become  like  the 
two  or  three  berries  on  the  top  of  the  uttermost  bough, 
or  the  four  or  five  in  the  outmost  fruitful  branches  that 
are  left  when  the  olive  has  been  shaken. 

The  ancient  city  of  Basra  had  a  citadel  of  the  strong¬ 
est  structure,  like  that  of  Damascus. f  To  the  west  of 
it  lay  the  strong  castle  of  Aaglun^  then  recently  built, 
and  to  the  east,  Scharchod  was  also  fortified  by  a  strong 
citadel.  The  castle  of  Jldjeloon^  like  the  rest,  was  wor¬ 
thy  of  its  high  fame.  Built  upon  a  rock,  and  surmount¬ 
ed  by  a  moat  cut  out  of  the  rock,  faced  with  masonry 
when  needful,  “  it  must,”  says  Buckingham,  “have  been 
originally  considered  one  of  the  strongest  positions  in 
the  country,”  though  in  the  hands  of  its  present  posses¬ 
sors  “  the  castle  may  be  almost  said  to  be  in  ruins,  though 
many  parts  of  it  are  still  habitable, &c.  The  castle  of 
Salghud  occupied  a  fine  elevation,  is  founded  on  a  rock, 
and  surrounded  by  a  broad  and  deep  ditch  hewn  out  of 
the  rock,  the  area  on  which  it  stands  being  eight  hundred 
paces  in  circuit.  The  castle  is  abandoned,  and  the  city 
or  town  is  now  entirely  in  ruins,  and  without  a  single  in¬ 
habitant. §  “  The  large  castle  of  Basra  is  one  of  the  best 

built  citadels  of  Syria,  and  is  surrounded  by  a  deep  ditch. 
Its  walls  are  very  thick,  and  in  the  interior  are  alleys, 
dark  vaults,  subterraneous  passages,  &c.,  of  the  most 
solid  construction. ”11  “In  centre  of  the  castle  is  a  fine 
theatre,  apparently  of  great  extent  and  beauty,  in  its 
orifyinal  state,  thouGrb  now  confounded  with  other  ruins,” 
&c.  “  There  were  seven  or  eight  ranges  of  benches, 

gradually  rising  and  receding  as  they  rose,  in  the  man¬ 
ner  of  ail  the  theatres  of  antiquity.  The  upper  range 
was  terminated  by  a  fine  Doric  colonnade  running  all 
round  the  semicircle,  the  pillars  being  about  three  feet 
in  diameter,  supporting  a  plain  entablature.  The  circle 
of  the  upper  range  of  seats  was  two  hundred  and  thirty 
paces.”  The  entrances  for  the  visiters  of  this  theatre 
seemed  to  be  “  through  arched  passages,  corresponding 
with  the  ancient  vomitories,  and  about  thirty  in  num- 
ber.”*!!  When  Syria  was  invaded  by  the  Saracens,  Bozra 
was  a  strongly-fortified  city,  and  “  twelve  thousand  horse 

*  Irby  and  Mang-les’  Travels,  p.  240.  t  Abulfeda,  Tab.  Syr.,  p.  99. 

t  Bucking-ham’s  Trav.  among  the  Arab  Tribes,  p.  151.  ^  Ibid.,  p.  216. 

y  Burckhardt’s  Syria,  p.  233.  I"  Buckingham’s  Travels,  p.  204.,  205. 


224 


PROGRESSIVE  DESOLATION  OF  SYRIA. 


issued  from  its  gates  and  five  centuries  afterward  an 
army  of  Crusaders  turned  back  from  its  walls,  and  did 
not  venture  to  besiege  it.  But  the  contrast  is  striking. 
The  town  is  all  but  utterly  deserted  and  when  visited 
by  Burckhardt,  the  castle  was  garrisoned  by  six  Mog- 
grebbyns  only.”* 

Chesbmi  was  the  metropolis  of  the  fertile  country  of 
Al  Balkaa  when  Abulfeda  wrote,  and  Rabba  Moab  had 
perished  and  was  turned  into  a  village,  and  the  large 
area  on  which  the  ancient  city  of  Ammon  was  built  was 
heaped  with  ruins.  Heshbon  was  then  surrounded  with 
trees,  and  gardens,  and  fields.f  But  now  at  Heshbon 
are  the  ruins  of  a  large  ancient  town ;  a  few  broken 
shafts  of  columns  are  still  standing,  a  number  of  deep 
wells  cut  in  the  rock,  and  a  large  reservoir  of  water,{  &c. 

Askelon  was  a  fine  city,  surrounded  by  a  double  wall, 
abounding  in  gardens  and  fruits,  and  was  one  of  the 
most  celebrated  towns  of  the  seacoast.  The  inhabi¬ 
tants  drank  out  of  fountains  of  sweet  water.  It  was 
rich  in  olives,  vines,  nuts,  and  pomegranates.  Every¬ 
thing  was  extremely  cheap,  and  the  soil  very  rich.§ 
‘‘The  position  of  Askelon  is  strong;  the  walls  are  built 
on  the  top  of  a  ridge  of  rock,  that  winds  round  the 
town  in  a  semicircular  direction,  and  terminates  at  each 
end  in  the  sea.  The  foundations  remain  all  the  way 
round,  the  walls  are  of  great  thickness,  and  in  some 
places  of  considerable  height,  and  flanked  with  towers 
at  difierent  distances.  Patches  of  the  wall  preserve 
their  original  elevation,  but  in  general  it  is  ruined 
throughout,  and  the  materials  lie  scattered  around  the 
foundation,  or  rolled  down  the  hill  on  either  side.  In 
the  highest  part  of  the  town  we  found  the  remains  of  a 
Christian  convent,  close  upon  the  sea,  with  a  well  of  ex¬ 
cellent  water  beside  it.  Askelon  was  one  of  the  proud¬ 
est  satrapies  of  the  lords  of  the  Philistines  ;  now  there 
is  not  an  inhabitant  within  its  walls  ;  and  the  prophecy 
of  Zechariah  is  fulfilled,  ‘Askelon  shall  not  be  inhabit- 
of  about  two  miles  in  circuit,  and,  as  the  Pacha  of  Egpyt 
ed.’ ”11  “The  city  occupies,  within  the  walls,  a  space 
has  caused  the  sand  to  be  cleared,  with  the  intention  ol 

*  Burckhardt’s  Syria,  p.  233.  f  Abulfeda,  p.  11,  90,  92. 

$  Burckhardt’s  Syria,  p.  365.  ^  Tab.  Syr.,  p.  179. 

II  Richardson’s  Travels,  vol.  ii.,  p.  202-204. 


PROGRESSIVE  DESOLATION  OP  SYRIA.  225 

building  a  new  town  and  hartiour  from  the  ancient  ma¬ 
terials,  many  interesting  remains  have  been  exposed  to 
view.  Near  the  centre  of  the  field  of  ruins  there  has 
stood  a  temple  of  large  dimensions,  the  pillars  of  which, 
though  fallen,  are  still  entire,  each  shaft  being  of  one 
piece  of  gray  granite.  The  pillars  and  entablature  are 
of  white  marble,  of  the  Corinthian  order,  and  in  the 
purest  taste.  Near  this,  a  very  beautiful  colossal  female 
figure,  of  white  marble,  forms  part  of  the  substructure 
of  a  building,  and  might  be  easily  removed  from  its 
present  situation.  Friezes  and  entablatures,  and  frag¬ 
ments  of  marble  statues,  lie  scattered  about  in  every  di¬ 
rection.  One  of  the  most  interesting  ruins  is  that  of 
an  early  Christian  church,  probably  of  the  fourth  or 
fifth  century  ;  the  walls,  pavement,  and  bases  of  the  col¬ 
umns  showing  the  exact  plan  of  the  building,  which  cor¬ 
responds  with  that  of  other  early  churches  in  the  Holy 
Land.  The  pavement,  and  the  capitals  and  bases  of 
the  columns,  are  of  polished  white  marble.  The  capi¬ 
tals  are  corrupt  in  taste,  but  beautifully  carved,  as  is 
frequently  seen  in  similar  instances,  when  the  arts  had 
begun  to  decline.  They  bear  an  eight-pointed  cross, 
encircled  with  a  wreath  of  laurel.  Askelon  was  a  bish¬ 
opric  in  the  early  ages  of  Christianity.  Sandys  describes 
it  as  ‘  a  place  of  no  note,  except  that  the  Turke  doth 
here  keep  a  garrison.’  It  is  now  a  place  of  still  less 
note,  except  that  the  deserted  ruins,  and  the  poor  vil¬ 
lage  of  shepherds  beside  the  walls,  remain  as  an  evi¬ 
dence  of  the  fulfilment  of  prophecy.”* 

Askelon  has  indeed  drunk  of  the  wine-cup  of  the 
fury  of  the  Lord.  Though  its  ruins,  like  many  in  Syria, 
give  proof  that  it  has  been  rebuilt  again  and  again,  at 
last  it  has  been  cut  off  with  the  remnant  of  the  valley. 
Annexed  to  these  words  is  the  question  concerning  it, 
“  How  long  wilt  thou  cut  thyself,  O  thou  sword  of  the 
Lord  ;  how  long  will  it  be  ere  thou  be  quiet  1  Put  up 
thyself  into  thy  scabbard ;  rest,  and  be  still.  How  can 
it  be  quiet,  seeing  the  Lord  hath  given  it  a  charge 
ao-ainst  Ashkelon,  and  against  the  seashore  I  there  hath 
He  appointed  it.”j 

These  words  of  the  Eternal  may  well  denote  the  lapse 
of  many  ages.  The  sword  of  the  Lord  is  not  yet  put 

♦  Kinneir’s  Cairo,  &c.,  p.  212,  213,  t  Jer,,  xlvii.,  5-7. 


226  PROGRESSIVE  DESOLATION  OF  SYRIA. 

up  in  its  scabbard  and  'still,  along  the  seashore  of 
Philistia,  a  land  now  no  less  troubled  than  ever  j  but 
the  charge  which  the  Lord  gave  against  Askelon  has 
been  fully  executed.  And  though,  when  the  first  king 
of  Israel  and  his  lovely  son  were  slain,  the  sad  tidings, 
as  the  lamentation  of  David  bears,  were  not  to  be  told 
in  Gaza,  nor  published  in  the  streets  of  Askelon,  lest 
the  daughters  of  the  Philistines  should  rejoice,  and  the 
daughters  of  the  uncircumcised  triumph,  yet  it  may  now 
be  told  in  the  streets  of  any  city,  and  published  through¬ 
out  the  world,  that,  according  to  the  word  of  the  living 
God,  not  only  hath  the  Lord  cut  off  the  sceptre  from 
Askelon,  but  that  city  itself,  in  far  later  ages  fenced 
with  double  walls,  has  become  a  desolation^  without  an  in- 
habitant.  The  seacoast  also,  as  every  succeeding  travel¬ 
ler  now  bears  witness,  and  as  the  writer  can  personally 
testify,  has  become  dwellings  and  cottages  for  shepherds^  and 
folds  for  flocks.  It  is  not  for  the  daughters  of  the  uncir¬ 
cumcised  to  triumph  at  the  tidings,  but  for  all  to  stand 
in  awe  at  judgments  perfected  at  last — to  stand  in  awe 
and  sin  not. 

It  is  not  as  the  theme  of  such  prophecies  alone  that 
we  would  here  linger  at  Askelon.  The  interrogatory, 
how  longl  may  demand  a  pause.  The  facts  that  that 
city — situated  on  the  border  of  the  Mediterranean  Sea, 
and  partly  buried  under  sand,  and  far  more  desolate 
and  broken  than  many  other  cities  of  Syria,  so  as  to 
have  become,  in  worlMy  estimation,  a  place  of  no  note 
— was  but  recently  about  to  be  rebuilt,  and  that  the 
purpose  was  only  seemingly  frustrated  by  the  outbreak 
of  a  new  war,  and  the  expulsion  of  the  intending  re¬ 
storer  ;  that  the  preparatory  work  was  done,  and  the 
sand  cleared  away,  with  the  intention  of  building  a  new 
town  and  harbour  from  the  ancient  materials,  and  that 
many  interesting  remains  were  thereby  disclosed  to  view, 
might  not  only  excite  some  interest  in  a  place  previously 
reckoned  of  no  note,  but  may  suffice  to  show  how  the 
city  is  accounted  worthy  of  being  rebuilt,  and  how  the 
ancient  materials  are  well  adapted  for  its  reconstruc¬ 
tion.  It  cannot  be  held  unwarrantable  to  expect  such 
disclosures  in  other  ruins  j  and  even  where  these  need 
not  to  be  made,  but  heaps  of  hewn  stones  lie  ready  for 
the  builder,  the  attempt  to  raise  up  fallen  Askelon 


PROGRESSIVE  DESOLATION  OF  SYRIA. 


227 


may  serve  to  show  how  practicable  it  is  to  renew  the 
cities  that  need  only  to  be  repaired,  or  to  raise  up  from 
their  ruins  the  cities  with  which  Syria  was  overspread. 

But,  not  resting  on  conjecture,  or  regarding  mere  po¬ 
litical  expediency,  we  chiefly  look  on  Askelon,  desolate 
and  uninhabijted,  as  showing  how  it  has  reached  the  full 
measure  of  the  Divine  judgments  pronounced  against  it ; 
and  we  look  on  the  attempt  to  raise  it  up,  however 
premature  or  untimely  it  yet  may  have  been,  as  a  prog¬ 
nostic  of  a  happier  destiny  that  yet  awaits  it,  as  assu¬ 
redly  as  it  has  thus  been  brought  low.  For  who  can  tell 
that  the  necessarily  preparatory  work,  which  it  lay  to 
the  pacha’s  hand  to  do,  for  the  final  rebuilding  of  that 
city  as  it  shall  be  rebuilt,  may  not  have  thus  been  accom¬ 
plished  %  The  “  field  of  ruins”  may  now  be  the  more  ea¬ 
sily  cultivated,  and  flourish  “  a  fine  city”  again.  What¬ 
ever  may  be  problematical,  this  is  not ;  for  the  mouth  of 
the  Lord  hath  spoken  it:  In  the  houses  of  Askelon  shall 
they  (the  Jews)  lie  down  in  the  evening:  for  the  Lord  their 
God  shall  visit  them,  and  turn  away  their  captivity.* 

That  which  is  thus  said  of  it  is  said  also  of  all  the 
cities  of  the  land.  How  nume'rous  they  were  in  ancient 
times  we  have  already  seen  j  and  still  more  ample  testi¬ 
mony  the  land  itself  does  at  last  disclose.  That  they 
have  in  general  reached,  like  Askelon,  the  last  degree 
of  predicted  desolation,  and  that,  like  it,  they  supply 
ample  materials  for  rising  again,  phoenix-like,  from  their 
ruins,  even  a  cursory  view  may  render  luminously  clear. 
In  their  multitude  and  in  their  magnitude,  fallen  and 
shrunk  as  many  of  them  are,  a  palpable  demonstration 
is  supplied  of  the  goodliness  of  the  land  which  sustain¬ 
ed  and  enriched  them  all.  And  while  scriptural  history 
is  thus  corroborated,  and  scriptural  prophecy  thus  ocu¬ 
larly  set  forth  as  perfect  verity,  the  reader  is  entreated 
to  bear  next  with  the  dry  continuous  detail  of  ruin  after 
ruin,  in  the  faith  and  assured  hope,  even  as  the  cove¬ 
nant  of  God  is  true,  that  as  the  light  of  Scripture  proph¬ 
ecy  rests  refulgent  on  them  all,  it  shall  yet  be  reflected 
in  brighter  glory  than  ever  from  the  cities  of  Israel 
again,  when  Jacob  shall  have  become  the  restorer  of  cities 
to  dwell  in^  and  when  the  face  of  the  whole  land  shall  be 
filled  with  cities. 

*  Zeph.,  ii.,  7. 


228 


RUINS  IN  MOAB  AND  AMMON. 


Notwithstanding  the  interesting  remains  recently  dis¬ 
closed  to  view,  so  soon  as  the  attempt  was  made  to  raise 
Askelon  from  its  grave,  it  is  not  from  its  ruins  as  they 
lie  that  its  ancient  beauty  and  strength  are  to  be  seen, 
any  more  than  its  once  beauteous  and  fruitful  environs 
can  be  recognised  in  the  desolation  around  it.  The 
circuit  of  ruined  walls,  if  alone  regarded,  would  in  this, 
as  in  other  instances,  be  a  faithful  index  to  the  popula 
tion  of  the  walled  towns  of  Syria,  if  at  all  compared  with 
the  extent  of  modern  cities  of  Western  Europe,  with 
their  courts  and  squares  spread  over  plains.  They  have 
rather  their  existing  pattern  in  the  city  of  Genoa,  with 
streets  narrow  as  the  lanes  of  other  towns.  The  streets 
of  Damascus,  the  first  city  in  Syria,  are  only  wide  enough 
for  the  passage  of  a  loaded  camel.  And  the  walls  of 
Aleppo,  long,  as  now,  the  second  of  its  cities,  are  only 
three  miles  or  three  miles  and  a  half  in  circuit,  though 
its  population  (including  the  suburbs)  in  the  beginning 
of  last  century  was  “  generally  computed  at  300,000,”* 
now  reduced,  in  common  token  of  progressive  desola¬ 
tion,  to  a  fifth  part  of  the  number. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

RUINS  IN  MOAB  AND  AMMON. 

In  commencing  a  survey  of  the  ruins  that  now  over¬ 
spread  the  land  which  was  given  by  covenant  to  the  seed 
of  Abraham  for  an  everlasting  possession,  it  may  not  be 
amiss  to  follow,  as  previously,  the  route  of  the  Israelites 
when  they  originally  entered  their  inheritance.  So  soon 
as  they  reached  it,  they  saw  how  goodly  was  their  her¬ 
itage  ;  and  the  cavils  of  those  who  have  traduced  it,  and 
denied  its  populousness  in  ancient  times,  may  be  con¬ 
fronted  at  once  with  the  ruins  of  hundreds  of  cities  or 
towns,  as  no  equivocal  proofs  that  they  actually  existed. 

The  seed  of  Jacob  shall  finally  possess  Mount  Seir 
and  the  remnant  of  Edom,  which  at  first  refused  to  give 
Israel  a  passage  through  their  border.  But  when  the 
whole  earth  rejoiceth,  Edom  shall  be  desolate.  It  is 

*  Van  Egmont  and  Heyman’s  Travels,  vol.  ii.,  p.  338. 


/ 


RUINS  IN  MOAB  AND  AMMON. 


2^29 


written  that,  unlike  the  rest,  its  cities  shall  not  return,^ 
The  scene  of  momentous  judgments  yet  to  come,  to 
witness  which  all  nations  are  invoked,  and  the  subject 
of  a  peculiar  doom,  Mount  Seir  could  not  but  question¬ 
ably  come  within  our  province,  while  looking  to  the  fu¬ 
ture  as  well  as  to  the  past,  and  noting  the  ruins  of  cities 
that  shall  be  built  again. 

But  in  the  latter  days,  the  captivity  of  Moab  and  of 
Ammon  shall  be  brought  back.f  These  regions  mani¬ 
festly  lie  within  the  borders  of  the  promised  heritage  of 
Jacob  j  and  a  brief  inspection  of  their  ruined  cities, 
which  have  all,  as  such,  testified  to  the  express  reality 
of  the  “  burden”  which  they  were  doomed  by  the  Lord 
to  bear  because  of  their  transgressions,  may  prepare  the 
way  of  entering  on  the  more  extensive  survey  of  those 
ruined  and  deserted  cities,  built  by  aliens,  that  occupy 
the  length  and  the  breadth  of  the  covenanted  inheritance 
of  Jacob. 

From  the  borders  of  Edom  to  the  River  Zerka,  an¬ 
ciently  the  Jabbok,  including  Ammon  and  Moab,  and 
a  small  part  of  the  original  inheritance  of  Israel  that 
pertained  not  to  either,  an  ample  field  of  ruins,  on  which 
we  would  first  enter,  is  presented  to  our  view,  where 
the  Word  of  God,  in  respect  to  the  desolation  of  the 
cities,  has  done  its  perfect  work. 

In  passing  through  the  land  of  Moab  towards  its 
southern  extremity,  and  to  the  south  of  Kerek  or  Carac- 
Moab,  after  recording  the  names  of  various  ruined  sites 
which  they  saw  from  different  points — five  from  one, 
and  six  from  another — ^Captains  Irby  and  Mangles  give 
their  testimony,  from  ocular  observation,  that  “  the 
whole  of  the  fine  plains  in  this  quarter  are  covered 
with  the  sites  of  towns  on  every  eminence  or  spot  con¬ 
venient  for  the  construction  of  one  5  and  as  the  land  is 
capable  of  rich  cultivation,  there  can  be  little  doubt  that 
the  country,  now  so  deserted,  presented  a  continued 
picture  of  plenty  and  fertility.”f  In  like  manner,  in 
journeying  to  the  north  of  Kerek,  before  reaching  the  an¬ 
cient  capital  of  Moab,  they  remark,  “  The  several  cities 
which  we  passed  proved  that  the  population  of  this  coun¬ 
try  was  formerly  proportioned  to  its  natural  fertility. ”§ 


*  Ezek.,  XXXV.,  9,  14. 
t  Travels,  p.  370,  371. 


u 


t  Jer.,  xlviii.,  47 ;  xlixi,  6. 
Ibid.,  p.  456. 


230 


RUINS  IN  flIOAB  AND  AMMON. 


But  instead  of  startling  the  reader,  if  a  stranger  to 
the  ruins  of  Syria,  by  a  general  and  seenaingly  transient 
renaark,  he  may  be  introduced  to  a  knowledge  of  them 
by  following  Burckhardt  from  the  banks  of  the  Zerka  to 
the  borders  of  Edom,  marking  the  slow  mode  of  East¬ 
ern  travelling,  where  three  miles  form  the  measure  of 
“  an  hour,”  the  usual  and  sole  mode  of  computation  now, 
where  Roman  milestones  once  stood.*  In  the  ground 
on  which  he  thus  treads,  looking  at  ruins  alone,  he  will 
not  fail  to  recognise  the  names  of  some  of  those  cities 
of  Ammon  and  Moab  on  which  the  word  of  the  Lord 
lighted,  and  on  which  it  has  fallen  no  less  heavily  than 
on  Askelon.  Places  of  no  note  they  too  may  now  be 
accounted  ;  but  therefore  is  the  word  of  the  Lord  veri¬ 
fied,  that  judgment  has  come  upon  all  the  cities  of  Ammon 
and  Moab  far  and  near. 

The  Zerka  now  divides  the  district  of  Moerad  from  the 
country  called  El-Belka.  On  the  summit  of  a  mount¬ 
ain,  at  the  northern  foot  of  which  it  flows,  large  heaps 
of  hewn  stones,  and  several  ruined  walls,  bear  the  name 
of  El-Meysera.^  In  one  hour  fifteen  minutes  is  the  ruin¬ 
ed  place  called  El-Herath,  about  one  hour  to  the  south¬ 
east  of  which  are  the  ruined  places  Allan  and  Syphan. 
At  two  hours  is  reached  the  foot  of  the  mountain  called 
Djebel  Djelaad  and  Djelaoud  (Gilead),  upon  which  are 
the  ruined  towns  of  the  same  names.  J  The  lofty  mount¬ 
ain  Osha  lies  between  Djelaad  and  Szalt^  which  is  distant 
four  hours  thirty  minutes  from  Meysera.  Szalt  is  (was) 
the  only  inhabited  place  in  the  province  of  Belka.  In 
descending  the  valley  to  the  south  of  Szalt,  the  ruins  of 
a  considerable  town  are  met  with,  consisting  of  founda¬ 
tions  of  buildings  and  heaps  of  stones,  the  remains, 
seemingly,  of  the  town  (As  Szalt)  described  by  Abulfe- 
da,  through  which  the  water  flowed  which  issued  from 
a  great  fountain  at  the  foot  of  the  hill.  In  the  southwest 
direction  from  Szalt,  distant  about  two  hours  and  a  half, 
are  four  ruined  places.^  East  of  Szalt  about  one  hour  are 
the  ruins  called  El-Deir. 

From  FeheiSj  a  ruined  town  at  a  short  distance  from 
Szalt,  Burckhardt  diverged  to  the  ruins  of  Ammon,  and 
returned  to  the  same  place  by  a  different  route,  passing 

*  Mr.  Buckingham  computes  an  hour  as  four  miles. 

t  Burckhardt’s  Travels,  p.  347.  t  Ibid.,  p.  348.  ^  Abulfeda,  Tab  Syr.,  p.  92 


RUINS  IN  MOAB  AND  AMMON. 


231 


ruins  wherever  he  went.*  “  Tie  extensive  plain  of 
El-Ahma,  north  of  Ammon,  is  interspersed  with  low  hills, 
which  are  for  the  greater  part  crowned  with  ruins. 
These  ruins,  as  well  as  those  in  the  Mountains  of  Belka, 
consist  of  a  few  walls  of  dwelling-houses,  heaps  of  stones, 
the  foundations  of  some  public  edifices,  and  a  few  cis¬ 
terns  now  filled  up ;  there  is  nothing  entire,  but  it  ap¬ 
pears  that  the  mode  of  building  was  very  solid,  all  the 
remains  being  formed  of  large  stones.  It  is  evident, 
also,  that  the  whole  of  the  country  must  have  been  ex¬ 
tremely  well  cultivated,  in  order  to  have  afforded  sub¬ 
sistence  to  the  inhabitants  of  so  many  towns. ”f 

Pursuing  his  journey  southward  from  Feheis,  we  may 
follow  Burckhardt  for  a  single  day,  noting  only  how 
regularly  ruins  are  bestrewed  around  the  path,  though 
not  so  numerous  as  in  the  vicinity  of  Ammon.  “We 
passed  Ardh-el-Hemar^  in  the  neighbourhood  of  which 
are  the  ruined  places  El-Ryhha^  Shakour^  Meghanny^  and 
Megahbely.^^  In  1  h.  45'  we  came  to  Kherbet  Tabouk.  At 
2  h.  15'  is  a  ruined  birket,  a  reservoir  of  rain  water, 
called  Om  Aarnoud^  from  some  fragments  of  columns 
which  are  found  here.  In  2  h.  30'  we  passed  on  our 
right  the  Wady  Szyr,  which  has  its  source  near  the 
road.  Above  its  source  are  the  ruins  of  Szyr.  At  3  h. 
were  the  ruins  of  Szar.  At  3  h.  30',  and  about  half  an 
hour  west  of  the  road,  are  the  ruins  of  Tokhara^  on  the 
side  of  the  Wady  Eshta,  which  empties  itself  into  the 
Jordan.  To  the  left  of  the  road  is  the  great  plain,  with 
many  insulated  hillocks.  At  3  h.  45'  to  the  right  are 
the  ruins  of  Meraszas^  with  a  heap  of  stones  called 
Redyem-abd-Reshyd.  To  the  left  are  the  ruins  called 
Merdj  Ekke.  At  4  h.  30',  and  about  three  quarters  of 
an  hour  to  our  right,  we  saw  the  ruins  of  JVaowr,  on  the 
side  of  a  rivulet  of  that  name.  On  both  sides  of  the 
road  are  many  vestiges  of  ancient  field  enclosures.  At 
5  h.  45'  are  the  ruins  of  El-Aal^  probably  the  Eleale  of 
Scripture.  El-Aal  was  surrounded  by  a  well-built  wall, 
of  which  some  parts  yet  remain.  Among  the  ruins  are 
a  number  of  large  cisterns,  fragments  of  walls,  and 
foundations  of  houses,  but  nothing  worth  particular  no¬ 
tice.  At  6  h.  15'  is  Hesban.  Here  are  the  remains  of 
a  large  ancient  town,  &c.  About  three  quarters  of  an 

*  Burckhardt,  p.  355.  t  Ibid.,  p.  357. 


232 


RUINS  IN  MOAB  AND  AMMON. 


hour  southeast  of  Hesban  are  the  ruins  of  Myoun^  the 
ancient  Baal  Meon.  Proceeding  in  a  more  easterly  di¬ 
rection,  at  6  h.  45',  about  an  hour  distant  from  the  road, 
I  saw  the  ruins  of  Djelouh^  at  a  short  distance  to  the 
east  of  which  are  the  ruined  places  called  El-Samek^  El~ 
Mesouch^  and  Om-el-Aamed^  situated  close  together  upon 
low  elevations.  At  7  h.  15'  is  El-Refeyrat^  a  ruined  town 
of  some  extent.  In  seven  hours  and  a  half  we  came 
to  the  remains  of  a  well-paved  ancient  causeway,  ap¬ 
parently  a  Roman  work.  At  the  end  of  eight  hours  we 
reached  Madeba,  the  ancient  Madeba,  built  upon  a  round 
hill,  and  at  least  half  an  hour  (or  two  miles)  in  circum¬ 
ference.  There  are  many  remains  of  the  walls  of  pri¬ 
vate  houses,  constructed  with  blocks  of  silex,  but  not  a 
single  edifice  is  standing.  There  is  a  large  birket, 
which,  as  there  is  no  spring  at  Madeba,  might  still  be  of 
use  to  the  Bedouins,  were  the  surrounding  ground  clear¬ 
ed  of  the  rubbish,  to  allow  the  water  to  flow  into  it ;  but 
such  an  undertaking  is  far  beyond  the  views  of  the  wan¬ 
dering  Arab.  On  the  west  side  of  the  town  are  the 
foundations  of  a  temple,  built  of  large  stones,  and  appa¬ 
rently  of  great  antiquity.  It  consisted  of  two  equal  di¬ 
visions,  of  each  of  which,  with  an  opening  between,  the 
walls  were  forty  paces  on  one  side  by  thirty-four  on  the 
other,  or  the  whole  length  about  eighty  paces,  and  the 
breadth  forty.  About  half  an  hour  west  of  Madeba  are 
the  ruins  of  El-Teym^  perhaps  the  Kerjathaim  of  Scrip¬ 
ture  ;  a  very  large  reservoir  is  cut  entirely  in  the  rock, 
and  is  still  filled  in  the  winter  with  rain  water.”* 

Such  in  this  respect  is  an  illustration  of  travelling 
now  in  the  lands  of  Moab  and  of  Ammon,  as  generally 
throughout  Syria,  not  from  town  to  town,  but  from  ruin 
to  ruin.  In  continuing  his  journey,  ere  Moab  was  left 
behind,  Burckhardt  passed  other  twenty  ruined  sites,  be¬ 
sides  villages  ;  and  exclusive  of  these,  he  enumerates  oth¬ 
er  seventeen  in  the  district  of  Kerek,  which  are  not  all, 
but  “  the  principal,”  of  a  great  number  of  ruined  places 
in  the  district  of  Kerek  in  the  land  of  Moab. 

At  El-Kerr,  in  the  southern  extremity  of  Moab,  per¬ 
haps  the  ancient  Kara,  a  bishopric  belonging  to  the  di- 
ocess  of  Rabba  Moabitis,  are  the  ruins  of  a  city  of  con¬ 
siderable  extent,  of  which  nothing  remains  but  heaps  of 

*  Burckhardt’s  Travels,  p.  363-367. 


RUINS  IN  MOAB  AND  AMMON. 


stones.  The  fertile  plain  on  which  they  lie  contains 
the  ruins  of  several  villages. 

At  a  short  distance  from  Rabba  are  the  ruins  of  an 
ancient  city,  Beit  Kerm.  Their  principal  features,  say 
Captains  Irby  and  Mangles,  are  a  great  building,  evident¬ 
ly  Roman,  resembling  that  which  seemed  to  be  a  palace 
at  Petra,  and  which  they  supposed  to  be  the  temple  of 
Atargatis  at  Carnaim  (Maccabees,  v.,  42).  Eight  col¬ 
umns  of  the  portico  which  adorned  its  front  lie  on  the 
ground.  There  are  fragments  of  others  within  the  tem¬ 
ple,  the  walls  of  which  are  fallen  j  the  stones  used  in 
their  construction  are  about  five  feet  long  and  two  broad. 
The  number  of  reservoirs  or  tanks  prove  that  it  once 
was  populous.  Passing  southward  from  thence,  at  the 
termination  of  an  ancient  causeway,  lie  the  ruins  of  Rab- 
about  half  an  hour  in  circuit.  Two  ruined  temples, 
of  one  of  which  a  single  wall,  with  several  niches,  re¬ 
mains,  showing  that  the  God  of  Israel  alone  was  not  wor¬ 
shipped  there — an  insulated  altar,  and  two  columns  still 
erect,  are  now  the  chief  distinguishable  objects  on  the 
site  of  that  city  which  was  exceeding  proud.  Many  frag¬ 
ments  lying  about,  many  remains  of  private  habitations, 
but  none  entire,  constitute  the  truly  desolate  heaps  which 
the  Lord  has  made  of  the  metropolis  of  Moab.  The  walls 
of  the  ancient  edifices,  that  were  built  like  those  of  Beit 
Kerm,  may,  with  other  ruins,  supply  ready  materials  for 
the  reconstruction  of  the  city ;  and  the  two  birkets  or 
reservoirs,  the  largest  of  which  is  entirely  cut  out  of  the 
rock,  together  with  several  cisterns,  may  be  turned  to 
usefulness  again  when  the  ruins  of  the  capital  of  Moab 
shall  be  transformed  by  another  prediction  into  a  city  of 
Israel.* 

Mr.  Buckingham  passed  from  As  Szalt  through  the 
land  of  Ammon  by  a  more  easterly  direction  than  that  of 
Burckhardt,  and  travelling  from  thence  to  Oom-el-RusaSy 
and  returning  from  it  by  another  way,  had  thus  doubly 
the  means  of  witnessing  how  ruins  are  everywhere 
spread  over  the  land.  In  whatever  direction  it  is  trav¬ 
ersed,  at  the  distance  of  six,  four,  or  even  two  miles, 
one  ruined  town  is  passed  after  another,  with  ruined  vil¬ 
lages  interspersed.  From  one  who  had  travelled  much 
in  these  regions,  he  was  furnished  at  Assalt  with  the 

*  Burckhardt’s  Travels  in  Syria. 

U  2 


234 


RUINS  IN  MOAB  AND  AMMON. 


names  of  several  places  which  lay  by  two  routes  between 
these  localities,  the  existence  of  all  of  which,  though 
their  names  be  given,  would,  from  their  vast  number — 
a  hundred  and  twenty-one — exceed  credibility,  were  not 
their  amazing  frequency  attested  by  every  witness.  Yet 
on  recounting  these,  as  he  recorded  their  names,  his  in¬ 
formant,  wearied  with  the  tedious  detail,  exclaimed,  with 
the  oath  of  a  Mussulman,  “  There  are  three  hundred  and 
sixty-six  ruined  towns  and  villages  about  Assalt,  and  I 
know  the  names  of  all;  but  who  could  have  patience  to 
sit  down  and  recite  them  to  another  while  he  writes  them 
in  a  book.”  ^  His  patience  was  exhausted,  and  he  would 
not  resume  his  task.  There  were  many  places  of  infe¬ 
rior  note,  which  he  thought  too  inconsiderable  to  name. 
For  greater  accuracy,  the  list  was  read  over  to  him  a 
second  time  after  it  was  written,  and  confirmed  by  his 
assent  to  the  positions  assigned.* 

Startling  as  the  number  of  the  recorded  names  may 
seem,  its  accuracy  is  strongly  corroborated  by  the  Ara¬ 
bic  list  of  ruined  places  in  El-Belka,  given  by  Mr.  Eli 
Smith,  and  obtained  by  him  from  the  inhabitants  of  Dibbin. 
Though  it  includes  only  the  places  between  the  Zurka 
(Zerka)  and  the  Mogib,  or  Arnon,  and  thus  does  not  com- 
.  prehend  many  of  the  towns  of  Moab,  the  number  of  names 
of  places  contained  in  it  is  one  hundred  and  twenty-four. f 
It  may  seem  to  convey  a  more  definite  idea  of  the  ru¬ 
ins  to  follow  Mr.  Buckingham  a  day’s  journey  in  the  land 
of  Ammon,  as  Burckhardt  formerly  through  part  of  that 
of  Moab.  In  journeying  from  Assalt  to  Amman,  a  dis¬ 
tance  of  six  hours,  he  first  reached  Anab^  which,  though 
without  an  existing  dwelling  except  grottoes  cut  out  of 
the  rock,  still  retains  its  ancient  name,  and,  together  with 
it,  sloping  moles  of  masonry  and  vestiges  of  ancient  work. 
An  hour  from  hence  he  arrived  at  Fahaez  (Feheis),  a  ru¬ 
ined  town,  in  which  he  observed  the  number  of  at  least 
a  hundred  dwellings,  all  built  of  stone,  in  the  construc¬ 
tion  of  which  the  Roman  arch  is  very  prevalent.  An 
hour  thereafter,  four  ruined  villages  intervening.  Deer- 
el-JVassara,  or  the  convent  of  the  Christians,  is  reached, 
a  ruined  town  of  greater  extent  than  Fahaez.  The  large 
size  of  the  stones,  and  the  deep  hue  of  age  spread  over 


*  Buckingham’s  Travels  among  the  Arab  Tribes,  p.  44-46. 
t  Robinson  and  Smith’s  Biblical  Researches,  vol.  iii.,  Appendix,  p.  167. 


RUINS  IN  MOAB  AND  AMMON. 


235 


every  part,  denote  a  high  antiquity.  No  one  edifice  re¬ 
mains  perfect;  and  in  some  the  dilapidation  is  so  complete, 
that  soil  has  collected  over  and  above  the  fallen  heap  of 
stones,  in  which  large  trees  have  taken  root,  and  nearly 
the  whole  of  the  site  is  now  covered  with  wood.  Yet,  fall¬ 
en  and  almost  covered  though  it  be,  it  abounds  with  mate¬ 
rials  for  reconstruction.  The  stones  which  form  the  fallen 
heaps  were  “  smoothly  hewn,  the  masonry  of  the  best  kind, 
the  work  having  all  the  usual  appearance  of  being  Roman  in 
its  construction.”* 

Proceeding  from  thence  .for  a  mile  through  a  thick  forest 
of  large  trees,  on  clearing  it  he  came  on  a  fine  plain  cover¬ 
ed  with  rich  green  turf,  and  passed  by,  without  halting  to  ex¬ 
amine  it,  a  ruined  town,  Baboak,  all  that  he  could  learn  con¬ 
cerning  which  was,  that  it  had  long  since  been  abandoned, 
and  in  ruins.  Preserving  the  same  unvaried  phraseology, 
as  similar  sights  came  successively  in  view,  “  In  our  way,” 
he  says,  “  we  passed  another  ruined  town,  called  Onm-el- 
Simack,  w^here  there  were  foundations  of  a  circular  wall  still 
visible  ;  and  around  us,  in  every  direction,  were  remains  of 
more  than  fifty  towns  and  villages,  which  were  once  main¬ 
tained  by  the  productive  soil  on  which  they  were  so  thickly 
studded.  As  their  names  were  mentioned  to  me,  I  recog¬ 
nised  many  of  those  contained  in  the  list  drawn  up  by  me 
at  Assalt.f 

“  For  the  space  of  two  miles  before  reaching  Ammon, 
pieces  of  broken  pottery  strewed  over  the  ground  indicate  the 
approach  to  the  ruins  of  a  great  city.  The  remains  of  a  large 
isolated  building  of  excellent  masonry,  with  sculptured  blocks 
scattered  near  it  on  the  ground,  first  meet  the  view  of  the 
traveller,  once,  as  is  supposed,  an  outer  gate  of  the  city,  or 
a  triumphal  entrance.  The  castle  of  Amman,  a  large  enclo¬ 
sed  ruin,  occupying  entirely  the  summit  of  a  small  steep  hill, 
has  the  appearance  of  a  fortress.  On  the  other  side  the  wall 
ascends  like  a  sloping  mole,  the  masonry  of  which  is  excel¬ 
lent,  the  stones  being  squarely  hewn  and  nicely  adjusted,  &c. 
The  steep  ascent  of  this  ruined  mass  is  passed  over  large 
heaps  of  fallen  stones  till  the  eastern  gateway  is  reached, 
which  leads  to  an  open  square  court,  with  arched  recesses 
on  each  side,  originally  open,  which  had  arched  doorways 
facing  each  other.  These  were  all  either  wholly  closed  or 

*  Buckingham’s  Travels,  ibid. 

t  Buckingham’s  Travels  among  the  Arab  Tribes,  p,  60-66, 


236 


RUINS  IN  MOAB  AND  AMMON. 


partially  filled  up,  with  the  single  exception  of  a  narrow  pas¬ 
sage  just  sufficient  for  the  entrance  of  one  man,  and  of  the 
goats  which  the  Arab  keepers  drive  in  here  occasionally  for 
shelter  during  the  night.”*  The  castle  of  Amman  having 
stood  siege  after  siege,  is  turned  at  last  to  its  low  predicted 
use — a  couching  place  forjlocks.j  The  empty  niches  in  the 
walls,  adorned  as  they  are  by  well-sculptured  bunches  of 
grapes  and  vine-leaves,  and  other  carvings  of  an  arabesque 
pattern,  have  none  to  bow'  before  them  now,  and  none  to  gaze 
on  them  but  the  senseless  herds,  who  themselves  are  the  un¬ 
conscious  witnesses  to  the  truth  of  the  W ord  of  the  living  God . 

But,  looking  to  that  word  which  abideth  forever,  and  to  a 
covenant  yet  to  be  ratified,  which  holds  within  its  bonds  Am¬ 
mon  and  all  its  land,  we  regard  n(?!  exclusively  the  prostra¬ 
tion  of  a  stronghold  in  fulfilment  of  a  prophecy,  nor  the  rem¬ 
nants  of  a  glory  that  has  long  departed ;  but  it  is  rather  our 
proper  business  here  to  look  around  for  materials  that  are  fit¬ 
ted  for  reconstruction,  in  the  time  yet  to  come,  when  the 
children  of  Israel  shall  dwell  safely,  though  in  the  land  of 
their  ancient  enemies,  in  their  own  cities,  that  shall  not  stand 
in  any  need  of  castles  to  defend  them,  nor  of  walls  or  gates 
to  shut  out  a  single  foe.  These  lie  plentifully  around,  enough 
wherewith  to  build  many  mansions. 

“  The  castle  walls,”  says  Burckhardt,  “  are  thick,  and  de¬ 
note  a  remote  antiquity  ;  large  blocks  of  stone  are  piled  up 
without  cement,  and  still  hold  together  as  well  as  if  they  had 
been  recently  placed.  The  greater  part  of  the  wall  is  entire.” 
Heaps  of  various  ruins  are  enclosed  within  them,  among 
which  are  seen  Corinthian  pediments,  cornices,  capitals, 
pilasters,  &;c.  Among  other  ill-defined  remains  are  the  ru¬ 
ins  of  a  magnificent  edifice,  whose  broken  fragments  bear 
evident  marks  of  its  former  grandeur.  The  pedestals  of  the 
colonnade  which  adorn  its  front  retain  their  original  position, 
with  many  fine  Corinthian  capitals  scattered  around  them. 
Large  blocks,  that  formed  magnificent  columns,  are  partly 
buried  in  the  earth,  on  one  of  which  letters  are  distinctly 
seen,  the  characters  being  deeply  cut,  and  not  at  all  worn  by 
exposure  to  the  atmosphere  or  any  other  cause.  Among 
the  ruins  in  the  city,  a  grand  theatre,  with  more  than  forty 
ranges  of  seats,  rising  to  an  elevation  of  upward  of  120  feet, 
the  upper  range  embracing  a  circuit  of  200  paces,  is  an  un¬ 
usually  perfect  monument  of  Roman  luxury ;  “  for,”  says 

Buckingham’s  Travels  among  the  Arab  Tribes,  p.  68.  t  Ezek.,  xxv.,  5. 


RUINS  IN  MOAB  AND  AMMON. 


237 


Mr.  Buckingham,  “  a  very  slight  repair  would  make  it  avail¬ 
able  for  its  original  purpose.”  In  the  broad  pathway  that 
encircles  the  whole  at  the  top  is  a  deep  square  recess,  en¬ 
tered  by  a  fine  Corinthian  doorway,  with  an  architrave  and 
pediment,  having  concave  niches  on  each  side,  as 'if  for  the 
reception  of  statues.  A  “  very  slight  repair”  may  convert  it 
to  a  nobler  use  ;  and  when  it  shall  be  trodden,  not  by  those 
who  are  lovers  of  pleasure  more  than  lovers  of  God,  but  by 
those  who  shall  know  that  the  God  of  Israel  is  the  Lord,  the 
niches  for  statues  shall  not  be  filled  again,  but  the  idols  shall 
be  utterly  abolished.  Till  then  it  may  remain,  as  in  ages 
past,  a  stable  for  camels^  and  a  couching  j^lace  for  flocks. 

In  the  succeeding  summary  of  Burckhardt,  it  may  be  seen 
how  temples  are  not  free  from  the  signs  of  past  idolatry.* 
“  The  edifices  which  remain  to  show  the  former  splendour 
of  Ammon  are  the  following :  a  spacious  church,  built  with 
large  stones,  and  having  a  steeple  of  the  shape  of  those  which 
I  saw  in  several  ruined  towns  of  the  Haouran.  There  are 
wide  arches  in  the  walls  of  the  church.  2.  A  small  build¬ 
ing  with  niches,  probably  a  temple.  3.  A  temple,  of  which 
a  part  of  the  side  walls  and  a  niche  in  the  back  wall  are  re¬ 
maining  ;  there  are  no  ornaments  either  on  the  walls  or  about 
the  niche.  4.  A  curved  wall  along  the  water-side,  with 
many  niches,”  &;c.  These,  together  witfl  the  theatre,  are 
among  the  chief  edifices  that  yet  remain  amid  the  desolate 
heap  which  Ammon  has  become,  according  to  the  word  of 
the  only  living  and  true  God.  They  are  not  without  their 
significancy  ;  and  such  illustrations,  often  repeated,  as  the 
reader  may  perceive  in  the  sequel,  may  aid  in  solving  the 
problem  as  to  the  causes  of  the  desolations  which  came  over 
Syria  many  ages  after  the  Jews  were  expatriated  and  the 
Ammonites  cut  off. 

Amid  the  ruins  of  Ammon  is  a  large  edifice,  presenting  a 
semicircular  front  towards  the  stream,  built  of  rustic  masonry, 
with  large,  solid  stones  of  an  oblong  form,  closely  joined  with¬ 
out  cement. t  A  large  and  more  perfect  building,  with  Roman 
arches  and  a  square  tower  ;  the  remains  of  a  colonnade,  and 
the  front  of  some  large  edifice  ;  a  grand  building,  once  appa¬ 
rently  of  an  octagonal  form,  has  still  four  of  its  sides  perfect ; 
a  colonnade  of  large  Corinthian  columns  was  once  ranged 
within  it.  Heaps  of  ruins  lie  in  bewildering  confusion  around 
it,  and  near  to  it  are  large  houses  divided  into  many  apart- 

*  Ruickhardt,  358.  t  Buckiug-ham,  p.  78. 


238 


RUINS  IN  MOAB  AND  AMMON. 


merits,  but  all  are  alike  deserted,  though  little  labour  would 
restore  some  of  these  buildings  to  useful  dwellings,*  Slc. 

Leaving  Ammon  by  a  great  road  or  causeway  similar  to 
that  by  which  it  was  approached,  the  traveller,  without  di¬ 
verging  to  visit  other  ruins,  passes  by  it  to  Gherbit-el-Sookh, 
ten  miles  distant,  near  to  which  are  very  extensive  ruins  yet 
unexamined,  many  Roman  arches  remaining  perfect,  several 
large  columns  still  erect,  pointing  at  a  distance  to  the  ruins 
of  a  town  which  must  have  been  an  important  station.  The 
public  road  which  led  from  it  to  Ammon  had  many  smaller 
settlements  around  it  in  the  midst  of  a  fine  fertile  plain. 

Continuing  the  route  S.S.E.,  the  remains  of  the  large  town 
Yedoody  are  passed,  where  many  tombs  and  sarcophagi  are 
excavated  from  the  rock,  near  a  quarry  that  has  rested  for 
ages.  In  another  hour,  in  a  continued  fertile  tract,  capable 
of  the  highest  cultivation,  are  the  remains  of  a  still  larger 
city,  Mehanajish,  with  arches,  columns,  and  sarcophagi,  all 
Roman  work,  though  none  of  the  buildings  remain  quite  per¬ 
fect.  Passing  it,  and  ascending  an  elevation,  still  more  ex¬ 
tensive  plains  open  to  view,  throughout  the  whole  extent  of 
which,  says  Mr.  Buckingham,  were  seen  ruined  townsf  in 
every  direction,  both  before,  behind,  and  on  each  side  of  us, 
generally  seated  on  small  eminences,  all  at  a  short  distance 
from  each  other,^nd  all,  as  far  as  we  had  yet  seen,  bearing 
marks  of  former  opulence  and  consideration. 

Journeying  onward,  he  passed  successively  various  ruin¬ 
ed  towns  at  similar  or  shorter  distances.  The  ruins  of  Bu- 
nazem,  inhabited  by  several  Arab  families. J  Menjah,  the 
site  of  some  large  town,  among  whose  ruins  are  arches, 
columns,  large  cisterns  or  reservoirs,  and  deep  wells,  with 
an  abundance  of  broken  pottery  scattered  about  in  all  direc¬ 
tions.^  At  Jelool  are  still  more  extensive  ruins,  consisting 
of  columns,  heaps  of  large  hewn  stones,  the  remains  of  fall¬ 
en  edifices,  numerous  cisterns,  grottoes,  tombs,  and  sarcoph¬ 
agi,  all  now  entirely  deserted,  and  exhibiting  a  melancholy 
example  of  the  works  of  former  opulence  and  power. jj 

At  Oom-eURusas,  the  remains  of  ruined  buildings,  and 
foundations  with  broken  pottery,  and  other  vestiges  of  for¬ 
mer  habitations,  extend  more  than  half  a  mile  beyond  two 
walled  enclosures,  filled  with  ruined  buildings,  of  which  the 
one  is  200  yards  square,  and  the  other  occupies  a  space  of 

*  I.ord  Claud  Hamilton’s  MS.  Journal.  t  Buckingham,  p.  83. 

i  Ibid.,  p.  86.  §  Ibid.,  p.  88.  ||  Ibid.,  p.  96. 


RUINS  IN  MOAB  AND  AMMON. 


239 


nearly  half  a  mile,  the  wall  quite  perfect  all  around.  The 
streets  throughout,  at  right  angles  from  each  other,  were 
very  narrow,  indicating  an  extremely  crowded  population. 
Though  the  buildings  seemed  small  and  unimportant,  and 
unadorned  with  architectural  ornament,  the  masonry  was  un¬ 
usually  solid,  and  the  stones  with  which  they  were  con¬ 
structed  very  large.* 

In  penetrating  from  Assalt  more  directly  into  the  interior 
of  the  country,  towards  Gerash  ruins  were  discovered  in  like 
proximity  and  abundance.  “  Seven  ruined  villages,  a  hewn 
cistern,  a  reservoir  for  water,  and  other  marks  of  former  pop¬ 
ulousness,  were  seen  in  the  early  part  of  this  route.  In  half 
an  hour  from  the  commencement  of  our  journey  we  came  to 
Zey,  a  ruined  town,  in  which  were  seen  five  pillars,  many 
private  dwellings,  originally  constructed  with  large  stones, 
but  now  completely  demolished,  and  grown  over  with  trees, 
with  a  very  perfect  sarcophagus.  An  hour’s  ride  from  Zey 
brought  us  to  Ullan,  a  Christian  town,  very  recently  desert¬ 
ed,  as  it  was  the  town  in  which  Aivobi,  the  merchant  of 
Assalt,  was  born  and  brought  up  to  manhood  ;  it  is  now, 
however,  entirely  in  ruins.  Near  it  are  hewn  quarries  out 
of  which  it  had  been  built.  The  abundance  of  fine  broken 
pottery  shows  that  it  was  an  ancient  site.  In  half  an  hour 
from  Ullan  is  the  sister  town  of  Sihhan,  larger  than  the  for¬ 
mer.  After  passing  ruined  villages,  Mr.  Buckingham  reach¬ 
ed  the  Zerka,  “  on  the  hill  to  the  east  of  which  were  point¬ 
ed  out  to  him  more  than  fifty  ruined  villages.” 

At  the  commencement  of  the  present  century,  these  coun¬ 
tries  east  of  the  Dead  Sea  and  of  the  Jordan  were  utterly 
unknown  to  Europe.  The  enterprising  Seetzen,  who  first 
penetrated  them,  contrasts  what  Ammon  was  with  what  it 
is  :  “  All  this  country,  formerly  so  populous  and  flourishing, 
is  now  changed  into  a  vast  desert.”  The  language  of  Burck- 
hardt,  who  was  the  next  to  follow  him,  is  not  less  expres¬ 
sive  of  both  the  depopulation  and  desolation  :  “  At  every  step 
are  to  be  found  the  vestiges  of  ancient  cities,  the  remains  of 
many  temples,  public  edifices,  and  Greek  churches.”  He, 
Mr.  Buckingham,  and  Captains  Irby  and  Mangles,  speak  of 
the  same,  and  also  of  different  regions,  which  they  ail  visit¬ 
ed,  in  similar  and  almost  in  the  same  precise  terms,  in  de¬ 
scribing  how  the  land  is  overspread  with  ruins.  The  very 
recent  testimony  collected  by  Mr.  E.  Smith  corroborates  by 

*  Buckingham,  p.  100. 


240 


RUINS  IN  MOAB  AND  AMMON. 


new  and  redoubled  proof  the  same  truth,  which,  long  for¬ 
gotten  and  unknown  among  Christians,  or  denied  and  deri¬ 
ded  by  infidels,  must  now  be  held  unquestionable.  The 
whole  of  this  region,  says  Mr.  Buckingham,  was  in  a  man¬ 
ner  studded  with  the  ruins  of  ancient  towns,  and  must  have 
been  once  highly  fertile  and  thickly  peopled.  This  inter¬ 
esting  region  appears,  both  from  ancient  testimony  and  the 
existence  of  innumerable  ruins,  up  to  the  present  time,  to 
have  been  one  of  the  most  fertile  and  thickly-peopled  court- 
tries  on  the  face  of  the  earth,  though  it  still  remains  a  blank 
in  our  maps,  and  is  considered  by  all  who  treat  of  these 
countries  a  desert  or  a  wilderness. 

In  closing  our  summary  review  of  these  ruins,  over  which 
the  destroying  angel  has  passed,  and  whose  commission, 
according  to  the  written  word,  has  at  last  been  fulfilled,  it 
may  not  be  unsuitable  or  unreasonable,  without  treating  a 
sacred  subject  with  levity,  to  listen  to  the  testimony  of  an 
Arab  chief  as  to  the  completion  of  the  work  of  desolation. 
Nor  does  this  testimony  lose  its  interest  or  its  force  because 
the  fact  of  the  completeness  of  that  desolation  was  conjoin¬ 
ed,  even  in  the  mind  of  such  a  man,  with  the  expression,  in 
the  same  breath,  of  a  vague  notion  of  some  ancient  prophe¬ 
cy  concerning  it. 

“  I  was  asked,”  says  Mr.  Buckingham,  “  whether  I  had 
seen  Gerash?  I  replied,  ‘Yes;’  and  Ammon?  continued 
my  host ;  I  answered  that  they  were  both  in  our  road.  ‘  Ah,’ 
said  the  sheik,  ‘  these  were  both  princely  cities  once,  but 
as  the  times  are  always  growing  worse,  so  these  have  come 
to  nothing  at  last,*  as,  indeed,  was  prophesied  concerning 
them  of  old.’  I  asked  him  when  and  where  the  destruction 
was  foretold.”! 

The  alleged  prophecy  was  attributed  to  Solomon  when  a 
visitant  to  the  king  of  Ammon  !  But  he  whose  first  proverb 
was,  “  The  fear  of  the  Lord  is  the  beginning  of  wisdom,” 
was  not  commissioned  to  reveal  what  Jeremiah  was  inspired 

*  Buckingham’s  Travels  among  the  Arab  Tribes,  p.  94,  95. 

t  Mr.  Buckingham’s  Travels  in  Palestine  and  among  the  Arab  Tribes  abound  with 
important  facts  illustrative  of  sacred  geography,  of  the  capabilities  of  the  land  from 
its  great  natural  fertility,  &c.,  and  of  the  inspiration  of  the  prophecies  from  its  ex¬ 
isting  desolation,  the  illustrations  of  which  are  sometimes  so  incidentally  given,  that 
he  who  thus  asked  the  Arab  sheik  where  the  destruction  of  Ammon  was  foretold, 
had  complained  but  a  short  time  before  that  his  sleep  had  been  broken  during  night 
by  the  bloating  of  flocks  beside  the  ruins  of  Ammon — their  predicted  abode.  His 
Travels  are  enriched  with  facts  which  illustrate  both  the  prophetic  and  historical 
truth  of  Scripture.  The  value  of  his  works  in  these  respects  will  doubtless  be  in¬ 
creasingly  appreciated.  It  is  much  to  be  desired  that  a  cheap  and  partly  abridged 
edition  of  his  Travels  among  the  Arab  Tribef  were  published. 


RUINS  IN  GILEAD  AND  BASHAN,  ETC.  24i 

to  write  concerning  Arnmon.  That  that  city,  and  many 
others,  have  come  io  nothing  at  last,  may  lead  all  to  look  for 
that  which  is  written  concerning  the  renovation  of  the  cities 
which,  like  Ammon  itself,  shall  be  raised  from  their  ruins. 
It  is  enough  for  the  present  to  show  that,  when  such  a  time 
is  come,  the  face  of  the  land  shall  he  covered  with  cities,  and 
that  there  is  no  need  that  there  be,  as  there  shall  not  be,  a 
blank  in  the  land  of  Ammon 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

RUINS  IN  GILEAD  AND  BASHAN,  ETC. 

Before  passing  the  Zerka,  and  entering  a  more  ample 
field  of  nobler  ruins,  we  may  here,  if  anywhere,  pause  for  a 
moment  to  drop  a  word  of  confident  hope,  like  a  seed  which 
shall  grow  up  into  a  tree  by  a  river  side,  that  more  than  ru¬ 
ins  shall  yet  be  raised,  and  that  the  children  of  Israel,  though 
long  as  low  as  they,  shall  yet  have  power  with  God,  and 
shall  'prevail,  and  Israel’s  inheritance  be  Israel’s  again. 

When  their  patriarchal  father,  returning  from  Padanaram, 
had  sent  his  two  wives,  and  his  servants,  and  his  eleven 
sons,  and  all  that  he  had,  over  the  ford  Jabbok,  and  was  him¬ 
self  left  alone,  “  there  wrestled  with  him  a  man  till  the 
breaking  of  the  day,”  whom  he  would  not  let  go  till  he  should 
bless  him.  Jacob  prevailed — he  was  suffered  to  prevail — 
though  his  thigh  shrunk  at  the  touch  of  him  who  wrestled 
with  him.  The  wrestling  ceased  when  the  blessing  came  - 
from  no  human  voice,  “  Thy  name  shall  no  more  be  called 
Jacob,  but  Israel — a  prince  with  God — for  as  a  prince  hast 
thou  power  with  God  and  with  men,  and  hast  prevailed^ 
On  passing  over  the  Jabbok  he  rejoined  his  family  under  a 
new  name,  and  the  sons  of  Jacob  were  now  the  children  of 
Israel,  to  bear  in  their  posterity  that  everlasting  name  which 
the  Lord  had  given  them,  the  full  import  of  which  the  world 
has  yet  practically  to  learn.  Uttered  as  it  was  by  the  Lord, 
as  Jacob  returned  to  the  land  from  which  he  had  formerly 
fled,  all  its  significancy  shall  not  always  be  unacknowl¬ 
edged  and  unknown.  He  who,  as  a  prince,  had  power  with 
God,  shall  much  more,  as.  a  prince,  prevail  with  men.  “  In- 

X 


242 


RUINS  IN  GILEAD  AND  BASIIAN,  ETC. 


Stead  of  thy  fathers  shall  be  thy  children,  whom  thou  may- 
est  make  princes  in  all  the  earth.  I  will  make  thy  name  to 
be  remembered  in  all  generations,”  Ps.  xlv.,  16,  17.  An¬ 
other  task  than  that  of  the  weary  detail  of  ruin  after  ruin  is 
yet  in  reserve  for  those  who  shall  speak  in  the  isles  of  the 
Gentiles,  or  in  any  part  of  the  earth,  of  either  side  of  the 
Jabbok,  or  any  portion  of  the  land  of  Israel,  when  the  for¬ 
mer  desolations  shall  cease  to  be  reckoned  by  units,  that  may 
now  be  counted  by  hundreds. 

In  leading  the  reader  from  one  field  of  ruined  cities  to  an¬ 
other,  and  entering  on  a  new  stage  in  the  dreary  route,  it 
may  be  enough  to  say  that  the  stream  which  we  here  pass 
is  the  Jabbok,  and,  if  endowed  with  the  spirit  of  faith,  he 
may  well  be  refreshed  for  encountering  a  desert  by  tasting 
of  that  brook  by  the  way. 

In  passing  through  the  land  of  Philistia  and  the  hill-coun¬ 
try  of  Judea,  the  writer  felt  the  oppressiveness  of  the  sensa¬ 
tion  irresistibly  caused  by  the  desolate  aspect,  in  general, 
of  all  around,  as  if  the  cheerless  scene  had  cast  its  own  im¬ 
age  on  his  heart.  And  he  could  not  but  seek  relief  in  an¬ 
ticipating  the  time  when  the  joy  that  has  gone  from  the  land 
shall  return,  and  the  tree  stripped  of  its  leaves  shall  again 
be  “a  noble  vine.”  The  dust  of  Zion  may  well  be  loved, 
but  that  love  is  none  the  less  because  that  dust  shall  yet 
bring  forth  fruit  to  Israel.  And  well  may  'pleasure  be  taken 
in  her  stones ;  but  neither  is  it  diminished  by  the  fact  that, 
in  his  own  gracious  time,  the  Lord  shall  raise  them  up  into 
the  palaces  of  Zion.  Any  sign  that  the  time  draweth  nigh, 
or  any  token  that,  in  the  order  of  Providence,  means  are 
preparing,  or  that  anything  is  ready  —  as  all  things  finally 
*  must  needs  be — for  the  completion  of  his  promises,  when  he 
shall  remember  the  land,  is  like  a  fountain  of  living  water  in 
a  desert,  the  deliciousness  of  which  can  only  be  tasted  there. 

On  entering,  therefore,  on  a  more  extensive  field  of  ruins, 
first  disclosed  to  view  in  these  latter  days,  every  one  who 
can  look  around  him  with  the  eye  of  faith  may  now  see  such 
signs  rising  conspicuously  into  view ;  and  may  taste,  if  he 
will,  that  sweet  fountain,  which  the  very  desolation  or  de¬ 
sertion  of  these  cities  has  opened  up  for  refreshing  the  faith 
of  the  Christian,  and  raising  or  reviving  his  hope  that  the 
time  of  Israel’s  redemption  draweth  nigh. 

A  light  from  heaven  can  alone  enlighten  the  dark  path  on 
which  we  are  entering,  as  that  on  which  we  have  already 


RUINS  IN  GILEAD  AND  BASHAN,  ETC.  243 

trodden.  But  that  light  is  clear.  They  shall  huild  the  old 
wastes,  they  shall  raise  up  the  former  desolations,  and  they 
shall  repair  the  waste  cities,  the  desolations  of  many  genera¬ 
tions*  There  are  distinctions  here  between  these  things 
thus  severally  marked,  and  there  is  a  corresponding  distinc¬ 
tion  in  the  works  that  have  severally  to  be  done.  Hitherto 
we  have  looked  on  ruined  towns,  that  need,  with  scarcely 
an  exception,  to  be  raised  from  the  very  dust.  Some  of 
these,  like  many  others  yet  to  come  into  our  view,  have 
to  be  cleared  of  the  earth  or  rubbish  that  encumbers,  and  of 
the  trees  that  cover  them.  All  that  have  already  been 
reviewed  have  to  be  huilt  or  raised  up  from  their  foundations  ; 
but  there  are  many  others  to  which  these  terms  are  not  ap¬ 
plied,  which,  notwithstanding,  have  to  be  repaired  or  re¬ 
newed,  and  to  be  inhabited  again,  though  all  empty  now. 
Different  terms,  expressive  of  the  desolation,  seem  to  denote 
its  diversity.  The  same  word  which  in  the  original  de¬ 
scribes  the  waste  cities,  is  applied  by  the  same  prophet  to 
the  desolation  of  the  highways,  identifying  that  with  their 
being  deserted  ox  forsaken — the  highways  lie  waste;  the 
wayfaring  man  ceaseth.  The  same  distinction  is  otherwise 
implied  or  expressed.  They  that  shall  be  of  thee  shall  huild 
the  old  waste  places  :  thou  shalt  raise  up  the  foundations  of 
many  generations ;  and  thou  shalt  be  called  the  repairer 
OF  THE  BREACH,  the  restorer  of  cities  to  dwell  m.f  The 
blindness  of  Israel  was  to  continue  “  until  the  cities  be 

WASTED  WITHOUT  AN  INHABITANT,  AND  THE  HOUSES  WITH¬ 
OUT  MAN.” 

Long  as  darkness  has  rested  on  the  ancient  cities  of  Is¬ 
rael,  this  torch  from  the  hand  of  him  whose  lips  were  touch¬ 
ed  with  fire  from  off  the  altar  of  Israel’s  God,  may  light  our 
way  in  joyful  hope  throughout  them  all,  and  shed  its  cheer¬ 
ing  light  alike  on  the  lowest  of  the  ruins,  and  the  largest  of 
the  deserted  towns  that  have  withstood  unshaken  the  rava¬ 
ges  of  time.  But  it  is  needful  only,  without  any  such  aid,  to 
look  on  them  as  they  are,  in  order  to  see,  as  plainly  as  the 
prophet  has  foretold,  how  many  cities  can  be  built  again  only 
by  being  raised  up  from  their  very  foundations ;  how  others 
have  to  be  repaired  or  renewed  rather  than  to  be  rebuilt ;  how 
habitations  have  been  forsaken  and  left  like  a  wilderness ;% 
how  the  palaces  have  been  forsaken,  and  the  city  has  been 
left;^  how  the  cities  have  been  forsaken,  so  that  men  do  not 

*  Isa.,  Iviii.,  12.  +  Ibid.  t  Ibid.,  xxvii.,  10.  Ibid-,  xxxii.,  14. 


244 


RUINS  IN  GILEAD  AND  BASHAN,  ETC. 


dwell  therein  f  and  how,  whatever  may  be  signified  by  the 
fact,  it  is  itself  visible  and  indisputable,  the  cities  are  wasted 
without  inhabitant,  and  the  houses  without  man.^ 

Ruins  are  as  abundant  on  the  north  as  on  the  south  of  the 
Zerka.  They  are  still  met  with  “  at  every  step.”  The 
next  district  on  which  we  enter  also  boasts  of  its  366  ru¬ 
ined  towns  and  villages,  a  hyperbolical  mode  of  expression, 
denoting  a  vast  number.  But  though,  strictly  speaking,  they 
be  not  so  numerous  as  days  in  the  year,  the  allegation,  as  com¬ 
paratively  near  to  the  truth,  may  be  more  justifiable  there 
than  in  other, lands,  limited  to  a  similarly  defined  territory ; 
and  these  regions,  that  vie  with  each  other  now  in  the  mul¬ 
titude  of  their  ruins,  as  anciently  in  the  magnificence  of 
their  cities,  have  less  reason  than  any  country  in  Europe, 
were  its  towns  and  villages  estimated  so  highly,  to  blush  at 
such  a  boast,  for  the  number  of  ruins  is  greater  there  than 
that  of  cities  or  towns  in  any  equal  space,  China  itself  scarce¬ 
ly  excepted. 

Having  seen,  specially,  how  numerous  are  the  ruins  that 
are  spread  over  the  now  houseless  lands  of  Moab  and  Am¬ 
mon,  pages  need  not  be  filled  with  the  names  of  those  which 
bestrew  the  kingdom  of  Bashan  in  numbers  amply  sufficient 
to  vindicate  the  scriptural  record,  concerning  its  sixty  cities, 
besides  unwalled  towns  and  villages  a  great  many,  which  per¬ 
tained  to  its  ancient  kingdom,  the  loss  of  which  gave  to  Og, 
king  of  Bashan,  an  immortal  name.  But  as  this  record,  like 
others,  has  been  seized  on  and  assailed,  it  may  not  be  amiss 
to  show  specially  here,  exclusive  of  their  multiplicity,  what 
noble  cities  that  land  did  sustain,  and  how  these  very  ruins, 
from  the  beauty  of  their  edifices  and  solidity  of  their  struc¬ 
ture,  may  mock  in  return  the  proudest  of  the  cities  in  which 
these  scoffers  dwell. 

The  cities  of  the  Decopolis  might,  in  ancient  times,  like 
those  of  Judea,  have  maintained  a  mutual  rivalry  ;  but  scarce¬ 
ly  anywhere  are  ruins  to  be  found  which  outvie  those  of  Je- 
rash,  supposed,  from  the  similarity  of  the  name,  to  be  the 
ancient  Gerasa,  situated  on  a  small  stream  which  flows  into 
the  Zerkah.  They  not  only  prove  the  magnificence  and  im¬ 
portance  of  the  ancient  city,  but,  though  unknown,  like  those 
of  Petra,  till  the  present  century,  they  show  that  even  Pal¬ 
myra  and  Baalbec  were  not  unrivalled  in  the  splendour  of 
their  edifices  by  other  cities  that,  like  them,  once  stood  in 

*  Jeremiah,  iv,,  29.  f  Isa.,vi.,  11. 


RUINS  IN  GILEAD  AND  BASHAN,  ETC. 


245 


their  glory  within  the  allotted  inheritance  of  Israel.  Fallen  as 
they  are,  enough  is  left  to  prove  that  the  banks  of  a  streamlet 
of  that  oft-derided  land  were  so  enriched  and  adorned,  even 
by  a  people  given  up  to  idolatry,  as  to  challenge  in  their  mag¬ 
nificence,  though  in  ruins,  any  spot  in  Europe,  the  most 
richly  garnished  with  princely  edifices.  Lofty  columns 
generally  pertain  only  to  palaces  or  temples,  or  other  public 
buildings,  which  are  thus,  as  well  as  by  their  greatness,  dis¬ 
tinguished  from  the  common  habitations  even  of  royal  cities. 
But  the  streets  of  Jerash  were  lined  with  colonnades  from 
end  to  end,  and  opened  a  way  to  public  edifices,  which  yet 
lost  not  their  distinction,  while  statelier  or  finer  columns  were 
doubled  or  multiplied  around  them. 

Extending  on  both  the  ascending  sides  of  the  small  stream 
which  nearly  intersected  the  city,  the  walls,  where  not  almost 
entire,  form  a  distinct  lineal  mound  of  heimi  fitvneSj  of  a  con¬ 
siderable  height,  and,  in  a  circuit  of  an  hour  and  a  half,  they 
enclose  an  immense  space  almost  entirely  covered  with  ru¬ 
ins.  The  principal  street,  extending  nearly  from  one  ex¬ 
tremity  of  the  ruins  to  the  other,  was  lined  on  both  sides 
with  columns,  many  of  which  are  fallen,  many  fractured  and 
shortened,  and  not  a  few  still  erect  and  unbroken ;  some 
thirty  feet  high,  others  twenty-five,  and  the  lowest  about 
twenty  :  “  where  a  high  column  stands  near  a  shorter  one, 
the  architecture  over  the  other  reposes  upon  a  projecting 
bracket  worked  into  the  shaft  of  the  higher  one.”  On  one 
side  of  the  street,  in  less  than  a  third  part  of  its  length,  thirty- 
four  columns  are  yet  standing.  Behind  the  colonnade  there 
are  in  some  places  vaulted  apartments,  which  appear  to  have 
been  shops.  Cross  streets,  diverging  at  various  distances 
from  the  long  central  street,  had  also  their  colonnades,  and 
were  adorned  with  public  edifices  or  bridges,  while  the  more 
distant  spaces  on  each  side  are  covered  with  indiscriminate 
ruins  of  the  habitations  of  the  more  humble  citizens.  The 
remains  of  pavement  in  several  streets  may  put  to  shame  the 
capital  of  France.  One,  at  least,  of  the  bridges  has  been  rais¬ 
ed  to  a  great  height,  to  render  the  acclivity  less  dangerous  ; 
and,  as  observed  by  Lord  Claud  Hamilton,  transverse  lines,  to 
prevent  horses  from  slipping,  have  been  cut  on  the  pavement, 
as  may  be  seen  on  some  ol  the  hills  in  the  city  of  London. 
Near  a  copious  fountain  of  the  clearest  water,  not  far  from 
the  centre  of  the  ruins,  is  a  large  building,  with  massive 
walls,  consisting  of  arched  chambers,  similar  to  Roman  baths, 

X  2 


246 


RUINS  IN  GILEAD  AND  BASHAN,  ETC. 


which  was  doubtless  a  public  bath ;  another  yet  remains  in 
the  same  quarter,  which  was  surrounded  by  a  colonnade,  some 
of  the  pillars  of  which  are  still  erect.  Opposite  to  the  large 
bath,  in  a  straight  line  across  the  centre  of  the  city,  passing 
an  elevated  bridge  anciently  environed  by  ornamental  struc¬ 
tures,  and  from  thence  through  a  street  lined  on  both  sides 
by  columns,  an  arched  gateway,  facing  the  chief  street, 
leads  to  the  splendid  remains  of  a  magnificent  temple,  such 
as  few  countries  could  have  ever  shown.  The  base  of  the 
edifice  is  now  covered  with  its  fallen  roof.  Three  of  the 
walls  still  stand,  showing  the  niches  for  images.  The  front 
of  the  temple  was  adorned  with  a  noble  portico,  with  three 
rows  of  grand  Corinthian  columns  thirty-five  or  forty  feet  in 
height,  the  capitals  of  which  are  beautifully  ornamented  with 
acanthus  leaves.  The  spacious  area  within  which  it  stood 
was  surrounded  in  like  manner  by  a  double  row  of  columns, 
the  total  number  of  which,  that  originally  adorned  the  tem¬ 
ple  and  its  area,  was  not  less,  in  the  estimation  of  Burck- 
hardt,  than  two  hundred  or  two  hundred  and  fifty.*  Near 
to  this  temple  stands  a  theatre  which  has  sixteen  rows  of 
benches,  with  a  tier  of  six  boxes,  between  every  two  of  which 
is  a  niche,  “  forming  a  very  elegant  ornament,”  and  as  be¬ 
fitting  a  station  for  idols  as  the  walls  of  a  church.  Such 
is  the  transformation  it  has  undergone,  that  in  1839  a  fine 
crop  of  tobacco  occupied  the  arena,  which  is  about  fifty  pa¬ 
ces  in  diameter.  The  theatre  was  adorned  with  a  quad¬ 
rangle  of  fine  large  Corinthian  columns,  the  entablature  of 
which  is  perfect. 

In  the  construction  of  the  city  and  the  position  of  its  prin¬ 
cipal  edifices,  now  the  monument  of  its  glory,  nature  has 
been  seconded  or  followed  by  art.  An  eminence  on  one 
end  of  the  city,  opposite  to  the  termination  of  the  grand 
street  which  led  to  the  other,  was  the  site  both  of  a  temple 
and  of  a  theatre’,  which  were  placed  in  pagan  juxtaposition 
like  the  former.  The  low  hill  on  which  they  stood  was 
connected  with  the  princely  street  by  a  magnificent  semi¬ 
circle  of  Ionic  columns,  embracing  an  open  space  at  its  base, 
fifty-seven  of  which  are  still  standing,  their  height  having 
been  varied  with  the  rising  ground  to  give  a  uniform  level 
to  the  whole  entablature.  The  immense  theatre,  larger 
than  that  of  Bacchus  at  Athens,  and  estimated  as  having 
been  capable  of  containing  eight  thousand  spectators,  was 

*  Burckhardt’s  Travels,  p.  254. 


RUINS  IN  GILEAD  AND  BASHAN,  ETC.  247 

partly  cut  out  of  the  rock  and  partly  built ;  the  front  wall, 
or  proscenium,  is  A^ery  perfect,  and  embellished  within  by 
five  richly-decorated  niches,  which  are  connected  together 
by  a  line  of  columns,  of  which  there  is  another  parallel 
range  within.  Beside  it  are  the  remains  of  a  beautiful  tem¬ 
ple,  ornamented  with  pilasters  surrounded  by  Corinthian 
capitals  ;  without,  it  was  surrounded  by  a  peristyle  of  grand 
columns  of  the  same  order,  supporting  an  entablature  ;  and, 
facing  the  city,  there  was  a  noble  portico  of  two  rows  of 
columns,  to  which  a  grand  flight  of  steps  led  from  below. 
Now,  in  the  words  of  Lord  Claud  Hamilton,  “the  columns, 
capitals,  and  cornice  all  lie  confusedly  in  a  common  ruin. 
The  view  from  this  spot  is  still  most  wonderful,  but  in  the 
days  of  Gerasa’s  glory  it  must  have  been  a  spectacle  of  un¬ 
equalled  magnificence.  The  whole  town,  including  a  vast 
area,  and  surrounded  by  an  immense  wall,  is  at  your  feet. 
Immediately  below  is  the  noble  Ionic  crescent,  from  the 
centre  of  which  the  main  street  extends.  Of  the  continued 
line  of  columns  on  each  side,  now  eighty-three  only  are 
standing  with  their  entablatures,  but  portions  and  pedes¬ 
tals  of  the  remainder  are  clearly  visible.  Around  them,  on 
every  side,  are  confused  heaps  of  well-cut  stone,  and  piles 

of  ruins  which  have  onlv  fallen  from  the  violence  of  ruth- 

_  ^ 

less  barbarism.  These  columns,  raising  their  slender  forms 
among  the  general  wreck,  and  stretching  in  so  long  a  line 
amid  the  remains  of  former  magnificence,  produce  an  effect 
which  nothing  in  Italy,  Greece,  or  Egypt  has  yet  presented 
to  me.  To  the  right,  the  noble  temple  first  mentioned 
stands  against  the  sight,  displaying  the  beautiful  proportions 
of  its  matchless  portico,  and  in  every  direction,  columns, 
colonnades,  and  massive  walls  attest  the  wealth,  the  pow¬ 
er,  and  the  taste  that  once  dwelt  in  this  desolate  spot,  and 
read  a  lesson  to  human  vanity  that  cannot  readily  be  for¬ 
gotten.”  Looking  on  the  splendid  ruins  from  a  higher  and 
more  distant  elevation,  Mr.  Buckingham  thus  describes  the 
magnificent  scene:  “The  circular  colonnade,  the  avenues 
of  Corinthian  pillars  forming  the  grand  street,  the  southern 
gate  of  entrance,  the  naumachia,  and  the  triumphal  arch  be¬ 
yond  it,  the  theatres,  the  temples,  the  aqueducts,  the  baths, 
and  all  the  assemblage  of  noble  buildings  which  presented 
their  vestiges  to  the  view,  seemed  to  indicate  a  city  built 
only  for  luxury,  for  splendour,  and  for  pleasure,  although 
it  was  a  mere  colonial  town  in  a  foreign  province,  distant 


248 


RUINS  IN  GILEAD  AND  BASHAN,  ETC. 


from  the  capital  of  the  great  empire  to  which  it  belonged, 
and  scarcely  known  either  in  sacred  or  profane  history.  It 
would  be  vain  to  attempt  a  picture  of  the  impressions  which 
followed  such  a  sight.”^ 

Bozrah,  though  anciently  more  famous,  is  not  entitled  to 
so  distinguished  a  place  among  ruins  as  the  comparatively 
obscure  Gerasa.  Still,  however,  while  the  remains  of  the 
castle  and  of  its  walls  are  tokens  of.  the  strength  that  has 
departed  from  it,  it  is  not  destitute  of  memorials  of  the  ele¬ 
gance  with  which  it  was  adorned,  of  the  idolatry  of  which, 
even  when  nominally  Christian,  it  was  guilty,  while  it  eve¬ 
rywhere  bears  witness  of  judgment,  and,  broken  as  it  is,  is 
full  of  ample  materials  wherewith  to  reconstruct  a  noble  city. 

Its  wide  walls,  in  some  places  almost  entirely  perfect, 
are  about  three  miles  in  circumference,  but  the  immediate 
environs  are  also  covered  with  ruins.  The  western  gate 
of  the  town  is  a  fine  arch,  with  niches  on  each  side,  in  per¬ 
fect  preservation.  A  broad  paved  causeway,  of  which  tra¬ 
ces  remain,  and  vestiges  of  ancient  pavement,  are  seen  in 
many  of  the  streets,  with  a  paved  footway  on  each  side. 
All  the  streets  were  very  narrow,  just  permitting  a  loaded 
camel  to  pass  ;  and,  crowded  as  they  are,  indicate  a  most 
condensed  population.  The  south  and  southeast  quarters 
are  covered  with  ruins  of  private  dwellings,  the  walls  of 
many  of  which  are  still  standing,  but  most  of  the  roofs  have 
fallen. 

The  first  remarkable  building  described  by  Mr.  Bucking¬ 
ham  gives  evidence  at  once  of  the  nicety  and  solidity  of 
its  structure,  and  of  the  prevalence  of  a  form  of  worship  ill 
accordant  with  the  simplicity  of  the  Gospel.  It  is  an  evi¬ 
dence  thus  of  what  has  been  done,  and  might,  were  it  need¬ 
ful,  be  renewed  in  the  form  of  structure,  and  it  bears  wit¬ 
ness,  too,  like  thousands  of  proofs  besides,  that  the  faith 
which  was  there  established,  and  has  perished,  was  not 
pure. 

The  masonry  of  the  exterior  was  smooth,  well  executed, 
and  apparently  old,  the  stones  having  been  let  in,  or  dove¬ 
tailed  into  each  other,  like  those  of  other  buildings  in  the 
Haouran,  and  thus  united  without  cement.  The  interior 
presents  a  miserable  work  of  the  Greek  Christians,  by  whom 
it  was  no  doubt  used  as  a  place  of  worship  up  to  its  period 

*  Buckingham’s  Palestine.  Burckhardt’s  Syria,  p.  252-264.  Lord  Claud  Ham¬ 
ilton’s  MS.  Journal. 


RUINS  IN  GILEAD  AND  BASHAN,  ETC. 


249 


of  destruction.  The  walls  were  stuccoed  on  the  inside, 
and  portions  of  this  remain,  showing  that  it  had  once  been 
ornamented  with  portraits  and  figures  of  the  principal  Greek 
saints  ;  the  pillars  have  also  been  marked  with  the  cross, 
but  seemingly  subsequent  to  its  original  construction.* 

The  same,  or  a  similar  building,  is  the  first  described 
also  by  Burckhardt.  The  roof  is  fallen  in,  but  the  walls 
are  entire,  having  many  arches  and  niches.  There  are  two 
large  niches  on  each  side  of  the  door,  and  opposite  to  it,  on 
the  east  side  of  the  circle  of  the  sanctuary. 

Near  it  is  an  oblong  square  building,  of  which  also  the 
roof  is  fallen  in,  and  the  walls  remain,  having  a  high  vault¬ 
ed  niche.  Between  these  is  another  edifice,  the  only  re¬ 
mains  of  which  is  a  large  semicircular  vault,  with  neat  dec¬ 
orations  and  four  niches  in  the  interior  ;  before  it  lie  a  heap 
of  stones  and  broken  columns. f 

The  great  mosque  of  Bozrah,  built^  and  dedicated  as  it 
was  to  Moslem  worship,  must  now  be  also  numbered  among 
the  ruins.  Part  of  its  roof  has  fallen  in.  Ruined  itself,  it 
still  bears  witness  of  the  triumph  of  Moslemism  over  the 
degenerate  faith  of  the  lower  empire.  From  end  to  end, 
both  \^4alls  are  lined  with  a  double  row  of  columns,  trans¬ 
ported  here  from  the  ruins  of  some  Christian  temple  in  the 
town.  Sixteen  of  these  are  fine  variegated  marble  columns, 
distinguished  both  for  the  beauty  of  the  materials  and  of  the 
execution.  They  are  each  about  sixteen  or  eighteen  feet, 
of  a  single  block,  and  well  polished.^  Changed  as  their 
office  hitherto  has  been,  to  take  alternately  their  place 
among  painted  saints,  or  to  be  surmounted  by  a  crescent, 
and  unbroken  as  they  have  been  for  twelve  hundred  years, 
the  time  may  not  be  distant  when  they  shall  undergo  an¬ 
other  transmutation,  and  become  the  ornament  of  an  edifice 
neither  desecrated  by  idolatry,  as  was  that  in  which  they 
first  stood,  nor  destined  to  fall  like  the  roof  of  the  great 
mosque,  the  materials  of  which  are  now  strewed  around 
their  base. 

But  the  principal  ruin  of  Bozrah  is  not  that  of  a  mosque, 
but  of  a  temple,  which,  like  the  other,  though  little  remains, 
has  still  something  to  tell.  “  Of  this  temple  nothing  remains 
but  the  back. wall,  with  two  pilasters,  and  a  column  joined 
by  its  entablature  to  the  main  wall ;  they  are  all  of  the  Co- 

♦  Buckingham’s  Travels  among  tha  Arab  Tribes,  p.  167. 

t  BurclUiardt,  p.  196, 197.  t  Ibid.,  p  228. 


250  RUINS  IN  GILEAD  AND  BASHAN,  ETC. 

rinlhian  order,  and  both  capitals  and  architraves  are  richly 
adorned  with  sculpture.  In  the  wall  of  the  temple  are  three 
rows  of  niches,  one  over  the  other.  Fronting  it  are  four 
large  Corinthian  columns,  equalling  in  beauty  of  execution 
the  finest  of  those  at  Baalbec  and  Palmyra  (those  in  the 
Temple  of  the  Sun  at  the  latter  place  excepted)  5  they  are 
quite  perfect,  six  spans  in  diameter,  and  somewhat  more  than 
forty  feet  in  height.*  These  splendid  columns,  the  monu¬ 
ments  of  a  temple  which  triple  lines  of  saints  could  not  pre¬ 
serve,  may  yet  adorn  an  edifice  when  the  Holy  One  of  Israel 
shall  be  worshipped  there,  significantly  worthy  of  the  name 
which  the  ruin  now  unintelligibly  bears,  “  Serait-el-Bint-el- 
Yahoodi,  or  the  Palace  of  the  J eld's  daughter 

Near  to  this  ruin  is  a  triumphal  arch  almost  entire.  The 
approach  to  it  is  choked  up  with  private  houses,  as  is  the 
case  with  all  the  public  buildings  in  Bozrah,  except  the 
church  first  mentioned.  It  consists  of  a  high  central  arch, 
with  two  lower  side'arches,  between  which  are  Corinthian 
pilasters  with  'projecting  bases  for  statues.  On  the  inside  of 
the  arch  were  several  large  niches,  now  choked  up  with 
heaps  of  broken  stones.;}:  Another  triumphal  arch  of  small¬ 
er  dimensions  is  remarkable  for  the  thickness  of  its  walls. 

A  building  called  El-Human,  or  the  Bath,  has  in  the  in¬ 
terior  four  pointed  arches,  with  concave  recesses,  formed  by 
alternate  layers  or  rays  of  black  and  white  stone.  The  up¬ 
per  dome  of  the  bath  was  a  brickwork  of  a  bright  red  colour, 
neatly  and  strongly  cemented  together.  Opposite  to  it  was 
a  large  building  entirely  constructed  out  of  the  ruins  of  more 
ancient  edifices.  Its  last  use  seems  to  have  been  that  of  a 
place  of  Christian  worship.  Some  of  the  stucco-work  on 
the  wall  was  extremely  rich.  In  some  places  were  seen 
columns  of  white  marble  in  one  solid  shaft ;  in  others,  pillars 
of  black  basalt.  Beside  it  is  a  square  tower,  the  door  of 
which  is  one  solid  slab  of  stone,  hung  by  pivots  traversing 
in  sockets  above  and  below.  It  is  ascended  by  sixteen 
stages  of  steps,  four  in  each,  or  sixty-four  steps  in  all.  On 
the  top  is  an  open  space,  enclosed  by  a  high  wall,  on  each 
side  of  which  is  a  double  arched  window  divided  by  a  col¬ 
umn,  the  roof  and  ceiling  being  of  solid  stone.  Every  part 
of  the  tower  is  strong  and  perfect.^  Such  was  the  solidity 
of  some  of  the  structures  of  Bozrah. 


*  Burckhardt,  p.  229,  230. 
t  Burckhardt,  p.  231. 


t  Buckingham,  p.  200. 

()  Buckingham,  p.  198,  199. 


RUINS  IN  GILEAD  AND  BASHAN,  ETC.  251 

Numberless  as  are  the  symptoms  of  the  decline  and  the 
decay  of  Mohammedanism,  the  mosque  of  El-Melrak,  with¬ 
out  the  walls  of  Bozrah,  may  deserve  a  passing  notice.  “  Ibn 
Affan,  who  first  collected  the  scattered  leaves  of  the  Koran 
into  a  book,  relates  that  when  Othman,  in  coming  from  the 
Hedjaz,  approached  the  neighbourhood  of  Bozrah  with  his 
army,  he  ordered  his  people  to  build  a  mosque  on  the  spot 
where  the  camel  that  bore  the  Koran  should  lie  down.” 
Such  was  the  origin  of  the  mosque  of  El-Melrak,  or,  a  halt¬ 
ing-place.  Mohammedanism  had  scarcely  a  halting-place 
in  its  rise,  and,  when  the  time  is  come,  it  shall  have  none  in 
its  fall.  A  few  specimens  yet  remain  of  the  Cufic  inscrip¬ 
tions  with  which  the  interior  of  the  mosque  was  embellish¬ 
ed.  The  dome  which  covered  it  was  destroyed  by  the  Wa- 
habees.* 

On  the  west  side  Burckhardt  counted  five  springs  of  fresh 
water  beyond  the  precincts  of  the  town,  and  six  within  the 
walls,  all  which  unite  with  a  rivulet,  w4iose  course  also  rises 
among  the  ruins.  In  the  eastern  quarter  of  the  town  is  a 
large  reservoir  almost  perfect,  190  paces  in  length  and  153 
in  breadth,  enclosed  by  a  wall  seven  feet  thick,  built  of  large 
square  stones,  its  depth  about  twenty  feet.f 

Of  the  vineyards  for  which  Bozrah  was  celebrated,  eA'^en 
in  the  days  of  Moses,  and  which  are  commemorated  by  the 
medals  of  the  Roman  colony,  KOAf2NIA  BOCTPHC,  not  a 
vestige  remains.  There  is  scarcely  a  tree  in  the  neighbour¬ 
hood  of  the  town,  and  the  twelve  or  fifteen  families  who  now 
inhabit  it  cultivate  nothing  but  wheat,  barley,  horse-beans, 
and  a  little  dhoura.  A  number  of  fine  rose-trees  grow  wild 
among  the  ruins  of  the  town,  and  were  just  beginning  to 
open  their  buds,J  to  blossom  there,  where  the  power  of  man 
has  fallen,  and  all  his  glory  has  faded. 

A  few  striking  facts  demonstrate  the  extreme  populous¬ 
ness  in  ancient  times  of  that  extensive  region,  which  took 
its  name  from  the  number  of  the  illustrious  cities  it  contain¬ 
ed.  Ruins  testify  more  than  any  records  that  these  were 
but  the  chief  of  many  more.  Brought  newly  to  light  as  they 
are,  only  an  inadequate  representation  of  the  stores  of  ruins 
with  which  it  is  full  could  be  conveyed  by  following  the 
track  of  those  few  travellers  who  have  visited  it,  and  by  de¬ 
scribing  even  minutely  what  they  saw.  They  seldom  rest¬ 
ed,  or  could  rest,  to  make  a  searching  and  satisfactory  ex- 

*  Euckinffham,  p.  235.  t  Burckhardt,  p.  232.  t  Ibid.,  p.  236. 


252 


RUINS  IN  GILEAD  AND  BASHAN,  ETC. 


amination.  A  transient  inspection  was  often  all  that  they 
could  give.  A  written  description  on  the  spot  was  general- 
ly  impracticable,  or  only  effected  by  stealth.  Frequently 
they  could  not  turn  aside  to  visit  ruins  in  the  vicinity  of  their 
path.  Sometimes  they  travelled  without  intermission,  with 
more  than  ordinary  speed.  Their  united  journeyings  left 
much  unexplored  ;  and  they  heard  of  ruins,  and  partly  saw 
them  at  a  distance,  extending  over  regions  w^hich  they  could 
not  penetrate.  But,  incomplete  as  their  testimony  is,  there, 
is  no  lack  of  proof  that  the  cities  and  the  towns  were  as  nu¬ 
merous  as  any  land  could  sustain  ;  and  their  peculiar  fea¬ 
tures  are  sufficiently  distinguished  to  trace  in  them  a  perfect 
consistency  with  what  Scripture  history  has  recorded,  a  pre¬ 
cise  resemblance  to  what  Scripture  prophecy  revealed,  and 
an  exact  adaptation  to  all  that  it  declares  concerning  the 
renovation  that  yet  awaits  them. 

In  journeying  through  the  Haouran,  and  passing  along  a 
low  range  of  hills,  Mr.  Buckingham,  timely  profiting  by  a 
casual  delay,  took  by  compass,  on  the  summit  of  a  rocky 
eminence,  the  bearing  of  25  towns,  3  of  which  were  com¬ 
puted  to  be  distant  half  an  hour,  or  two  miles  ;  2,  one  hour ; 
1,  an  hour  and  a  half ;  4,  two  hours  ;  6,  three  hours  ;  4,  four 
hours  ;  5,  six  hours  ;  or  twenty-five  towns  within  a  like  num¬ 
ber  of  miles  from  the  spot  from  which  he  saw  them^spread 
around  almost  equally  in  every  direction.  The  castle  of 
Salghud  was  seen  at  the  supposed  distance  of  twelve  hours, 
or  nearly  fifty  miles. 

.  He  adds,  “  I  have  set  down  only  the  principal  towns  and 
places  in  view  from  the  eminence  on  which  we  stood,  omit¬ 
ting  many  smaller  ones,  but  the  enumeration  is  sufficient  to 
show  how  populous  a  country  must  have  been  wherein  so 
many  towns  and  villages  could  be  seen  from  a  slight  eleva¬ 
tion  above  its  surface.  Excepting  in  the  immediate  envi¬ 
rons  of  large  cities,  or  on  the  borders  of  rivers,  I  should 
doubt  whether  any  country  on  earth,  not  even  excepting 
China,  was  ever  more  thickly  peopled  than  these  plains  of 
the  Haouran  must  have  been  when  in  their  most  flourishincr 

o 

state,  with  all  their  numerous  towns  fully  inhabited.”* 

Such  is  the  testimony  of  one,  than  whom  very  few  have 
travelled  more  extensively  ;  and  his  enumeration  of  the  towns 
of  the  Haouran  is  exceeded,  as  will  be  seen,  by  that  of  others. 

The  precise  locality  from  which  these  bearings  were  ^ta- 

*  Buckingham,  p.  186,  187. 


RUINS  IN  GILEAD  AND  BASHAN,  ETC. 


253 


ken  is  definitely  marked,  namely,  a  rocky  eminence  about  a 
quarter  of  a  mile  to  the  north  of  Sheik  Hussein,  and  distant 
about  eight  hours,  or  twenty-four  miles,  N.W.  i  N.  from 
Bozrah.  . 

From  another  spot,  the  ruined  town  Walter,  seated  on  the 
top  of  a  hill,  and  distant  about  twenty  miles  from  the  former, 
the  same  observant  traveller  took  the  bearings  by  compass 
of  other  towns,  and  computed  the  distances  in  miles  by  the 
eye.  They  were  seen,  as  previously,  in  varying  distances 
and  in  every  direction,  north,  south,  east,  and  w^est,  spread 
over  the  face  of  the  country.  Twenty  were  there  noted  and 
named,  the  most  distant  of  which  were  computed  at  twelve 
miles  from  the  spot. 

The  castle  of  Salghud  terminated  the  journeyings  on  the 
southeast  of  the  Haouran  both  of  Burckhardt  and  Bucking¬ 
ham,  but  it  does  not  terminate  the  region  where  ruined  cit¬ 
ies  abound.  No  European  traveller  has  as  yet  penetrated 
beyond  it.  From  its  castle  walls  “  a  public  road”  is  seen 
extending  southeast,  doubtless  the  very  same  king’s  highway 
of  which  Abulfeda  speaks,  and  which  bore  the  name  Ar 
Raszif,  i,  e.,  fortified  by  strongholds,  and  leading  to  Irak,  or 
Persia.  According  to  the  itineraries,  as  he  states',  the  jour¬ 
ney  to  Bagdad  was  about  ten  days.*  The  road  remains, 
-though  the  wayfaring  man  has  ceased ;  and  on  each  side  are 
ruined  or  deserted  cities,  in  which  no  man  dwells. 

“  In  the  best  maps  which  we  possess  of  this  country,” 
says  Mr.  Buckingham,  “  the  region  beyond  Jordan  to  the 
east  is  very  imperfectly  delineated  and  described ;  but  Boz¬ 
rah  and  Salghud  form  the  extreme  border  of  all  that  is  known, 
and  beyond  this  the  country  has  hitherto  been  supposed  to 
be  entirely  a  desert.  Flow  was  I  surprised,  therefore,  to  see, 
as  far  as  my  sight  could  extend  to  the  eastward,  ruined  towns 
without  number,  and  a  country  which  promised  a  still  rich¬ 
er  field  to  the  scholar,  the  antiquarian,  and  the  traveller,  than 
even  the  interesting  region  behind  us  to  the  west.”! 

Besides  five  carefully  noted  from  the  west  side,  he  took, 
from  the  eastern  face  of  the  castle,  the  bearings  of  those  few 
places  of  which  his  guides  could  furnish  the  names.  These, 
though  few,  the  names  of  the  rest  being  unknown,  were  ten 
in  number,  two  of  which  are  marked  as  large  towns,  within 
the  space  of  eight  miles  on  the  eastern  side  alone.  Mr. 
Eli  Smith,  w'hose  testimony  is  enhanced  by  his  long  resi- 


*  Abulfeia,  p.  108. 


t  Bucking-ham’s  Travels,  p.  217,  218. 


Y 


254 


RUINS  IN  GILEAD  AND  BASHAN,  ETC. 


deuce  in  Syria,  his  diversified  travels  throughout  it,  and  fa¬ 
miliarity  with  the  Arabic,  obtained  the  names  of  twenty-two 
places  east  of  Salghud,  twenty-one  of  which  are  in  ruins  or 
deserted.  But  neither  would  his  list  appear  to  be  complete, 
five  names  only  being  the  same  as  those  given  by  Mr.  Buck¬ 
ingham,  other  five,  or  half  the  number  of  those  he  saw  and 
noted,  being  omitted.* 

On  as  superficial  and  cursory  a  view  as  could  at  all  convey 
any  precise  and  adequate  idea  of  a  land  once  universally 
overspread  with  towns,  it  thus  appears  that  the  bearings 
were  actually  taken  by  compass,  from  three  different  points, 
of  sixty-four  towns  in  the  ancient  land  of  Bashan,  in  hastily 
traversing  that  country,  not  from  end  to  end,  but  partly  from 
one  side  to  another,  and  that  these  were  but  the  chief  or 
best  known  of  many  towns  or  cities  spread  everywhere 
throughout  the  land. 

From  “the  rocky  eminence,”  the  first  of  these  points  of 
observation,  bot];i  Iddaragli,  the  farthest  town  to  the  west¬ 
ward  (W.  by  S.),  lying  at  the  distance  of  six  hours,  or  above 
twenty  miles,  and  the  castle  of  Salghud,  twice  as  far  to  the 
southeast,  were  at  once  in  view.  The  most  distant  of  these 
towns  to  the  eastward  (Talliloze,  a  large  town)  is  reckoned 
eight  miles  E.S.E.  of  Salghud,  the  distance  between  the  two 
extreme  towns  being  about  seventy  or  eighty  miles,  thus 
thickly  studded  with  towns  that  the  bearings  of  upward  of 
sixty  were  taken  from  only  three  intermediate  positions. 
Here,  on  scriptural  ground  and  in  the  midst  of  scriptural 
names,  which  beyond  a  doubt  identify  the  precise  localities, 
the  Christian  reader  will  recognise,  with  hallowed  interest, 
in  Iddaragh  or  Draa,  and  Salghud,  the  once  famous  cities  of 
Og,  king  of  Bashan — Edrei  and  Salchah.  At  the  former, 
that  idolatrous  monarch  of  many  cities  contended  vainly  in 
battle  with  Israel ;  and  there,  though  his  power  was  gigan¬ 
tic  like  himself,  he  lost  all  his  sixty  walled  cities  and  many 
unwalled  towns,  and  his  kingdom  and  his  land  in  a  day. 
He  went  out,  and  all  his  people,  to  the  battle  of  Edrei ;  but  Is¬ 
rael  smote  him,  and  his  sons,  and  his  people,  for  the  Lord 
delivered  them  into  their  hand.f  They  took  all  the  cities 
of  the  plain,  and  all  Bashan  unto  Salchah  and  Edrei,  cities 
of  the  kingdom  of  Og,  in  Bashan .;{; 

It  is  doubly  interesting,  in  looking  now,  as  if  by  a  single 

*  Bucking-ham’s  Travels,  p.  218.  Robinson  and  Smith’s  Researches,  vol.  iii.,  Ap¬ 
pendix,  p.  160.  t  Numb.,  xxi.,  33,  35.  t  Dent.,  iii..  10. 


RUINS  IN  GILEAD  AND  BASHAN,  ETC. 


255 


or  second  glance,  from  the  one  to  the  other  of  these  very 
towns,  and  marking  how  numerous  are  the  forsaken  cities 
of  the  plain,  to  remember  how  they  were  thus,  in  a  far-dis¬ 
tant  age,  introduced  to  the  notice  of  all  future  ages,  and  had 
a  name  in  history  which  shall  never  perish  ;  and  now,  when 
they  are  disclosed  at  last,  as  if  a  second  time,  to  view,  after 
impenetrable  darkness  had  enveloped  their  actual  state  for 
ages,  to  take  a  narrow  inspection  of  those  cities,  whose 
strong  walls  of  old  could  not  keep  out  the  covenanted  chil¬ 
dren  of  Israel,  to  whom,  as  such,  their  land  pertained,  in  or¬ 
der  to  see  whether  there  be  any  cities  without  inhabitant,  or 
houses  without  man,  open  at  last  for  the  return  and  reception 
of  those  within  whose  everlasting  'possession  the  land  of  Ba- 
shan  lies. 

The  territory  south  of  Jabbok — we  drop  the  heathen,  and 
take  up  anew  the  scriptural  name — includes  but  the  half  of 
Gilead ;  and  that  at  which  we  have  immediately  glanced 
does  not  embrace  the  half  of  the  Haouran.  From  south  to 
north,  as  well  as  from  west  to  east,  bearings  of  as  many 
towns  might  again  be  taken  from  every  similar  eminence. 
Mr.  Buckingham,  without  even  leaving  the  house  in  which 
he  took  up  his  temporary  abode  at  Mahadjee,  north  of  Ezra, 
went  up  with  his  host  to  the  terrace  of  his  dwelling,  and  ob» 
tained  from  him  the  names  of  such  places  as  were  visible 
from  his  housetop,  and  took  the  bearings  and  the  estimated 
distance  of  fourteen  towns,  chiefly  to  the  north  and  to  the 
south,  within  the  estimated  distance  of  twelve  miles,  ten  of 
which  are  “  deserted,”  ox  forsaken  * 

A  description  of  the  ruins  of  the  Haouran  alone,  so  far 
even  as  these  have  been  discovered  and  examined,  would  fill 
a  volume  ;  but  the  works  of  Burckhardt  and  Buckingham 
may  be  specially  referred  to  as  conveying  very  ample  in¬ 
formation  concerning  that  interesting  region,  which,  after 
Seetzen,  they  were  the  first  to  explore. 

The  town  of  Salghud,  or  Szalkhat  [Salchah),  as  seen  by 
Mr.  Buckingham,  appeared  to  have  been  quite  as  large  as 
Bozrah,  and  had,  among  other  buildings,  a  square  tower  not 
unlike  the  one  described  in  the  ruins  of  that  city,  contains 
upward  of  eight  hundred  houses  ivithout  a  single  inhabitant. 
It  has  a  large  mosque  with  a  handsome  minaret,  the  latter 
of  which  is  only  two  hundred  years  old.  The  mosque  seems 
to  have  been  a  repaired  temple  or  church,  as  there  are  sev- 

*  Bucking-ham’s  Travels,  p.  286,  287. 


256 


RUINS  IN  GILEAD  AND  BASHAN,  ETC. 


eral  well-wrought  niches  on  its  outer  walls.  In  the  court¬ 
yards  of  the  houses  of  the  town  are  a  great  number  of  fig 
and  pomegranate  trees  in  full  bearing.  Every  house  has  a 
deep  cistern  lined  with  stone.  There  is  also  a  large  reser¬ 
voir.  Only  fifteen  years  since  a  few  Druse  and  Christian 
families  were  established  here  as  well  as  at  German.* 

Fourteen  hundred  and  fifty  years  before  the  Christian  era, 
Salchah  ceased  to  be  a  city  of  the  King  of  Bashan,  and  was 
numbered  among  the  cities  of  Israel.  In  the  fourteenth  cen¬ 
tury  it  long  withstood  a  hard-pressed  siege  by  the  Sultan  of 
Egypt.  Only  two  centuries  have  elapsed  since  its  chief 
minaret  was  built,  the  handsome  ornamerf?  of  a  spacious 
mosque.  In  the  outer  walls  of  that  mosque,  the  well-wrought 
niches  show  that  it  had  formerly  been  “  a  temple  or  a  church,” 
as  bearing,  like  many  a  wall  in  Syria,  the  common  mark  of 
paganism  and  popery.  The  judgments  of  a  long-suffering 
God  have  come  upon  it  at  last.  Now,  for  the  first  time  in 
the  present  century,  it  is  tenantless.  The  last  inhabitants 
that  lingered  there  have  abandoned  it,  but  bore  the  name  of 
its  citizens,  and,  when  seen  by  Burckhardt  at  Edialeb,  were 
still  called  Szalkhalie.  The  fortress,  a  stronghold  by  na¬ 
ture  and  art,  which,  like  Askelon  and  many  others,  long  with¬ 
stood  an  arm  of  flesh,  still  remains,  with  its  ruined  castle  and 
empty  houses,  to  show  the  power  of  the  word  of  the  Lord 
over  it ;  and,  though  tenanted  in  recent  years,  and  still  bear¬ 
ing  the  same  name  which  it  bore  three  thousand  three  hun¬ 
dred  years  ago,  is  now,  at  last,  a  city  without  inhabitants, 
and  its  hundreds  of  houses  are  each  and  all  without  man. 

The  castle  (see  Plate),  which  has  a  general  resemblance 
to  those  of  Szalt,  Adjeloon,  and  Bozrah,  is  nearly  circular 
in  form,  and  is  surrounded  by  a  broad  and  deep  ditch,  hewn 
out  of  the  rock,  and  cased  with  masonry  where  necessary, 
the  area  on  which  it  stands  being  eight  hundred  paces  in  cir¬ 
cuit. f  Burckhardt  estimated  the  height  of  the  paved  upper 
hill  to  be  sixty  yards.  The  wall  of  the  castle  is  flanked  all 
round  by  towers  and  turrets.  Most  of  the  interior  apartments 
are  in  complete  ruins.  Many  of  the  large  paved  stones,  as 
well  as  parts  of  the  wall,  have  fallen  down,  and  in  many 
places  have  filled  up  the  ditch  to  half  its  depth.  The  town 
occupies  the  south  and  west  foot  of  the  castle  hill :  and,  nu¬ 
merous  as  are  the  houses  in  the  empty  city,  whenever  it 

*  Burckhardt’s  Syria,  p.  100,  101.  Buckingham’s  Trav.,  p.  212-220. 

t  Ibid.,  p.  214. 


RUINS  IN  GILEAD  AND  BASHAN,  ETC. 


257 


shall  be  filled  again  with  men  of  Israel,  ample  materials  are 
prepared  and  at  hand  for  enlarging  it ;  for  castles  may  be 
transformed  into  peaceful  dwellings  when  the  Lord  himself 
shall  be  the  strong  tower  of  his  people. 

The  country  that  lies  between  Salchah  and  Oerman,  the 
intermediate  distance  being  four  or  five  miles,  is  full  of  ruin¬ 
ed  walls.  In  German,  which  is  an  ancient  city,  are  three 
towers  or  steeples,  like  those  at  Kuffer.  Between  two  Greek 
inscriptions,  on  tablets  fixed  in  a  wall,  is  a  niche  about  four 
feet  high.  The  town  has  a  spring  and  several  reservoirs. 
It  is  somewhat  larger  than  Ayoun. 

Ruined  walls  again  extend  between  this  town  and  Ger¬ 
man,  distant  one  hour  and  a  half.  “  At  Ayoun  are  about  ybwr 
hundred  houses  without  any  inhahitants.”'^  On  its  west  side 
are  two  walled-in  springs,  from  whence  the  name  is  derived. 
Burckhardt  saw  in  the  town  four  public  edifices,  with  arch¬ 
es  in  their  interior ;  one  of  them  is  distinguished  by  the 
height  and  fine  curve  of  the  arches,  as  well  as  by  the  com¬ 
plete  state  of  the  whole  building.  Its  stone  roof  has  lost 
its  original  colour,  and  now  presents  a  variety  of  hues,  which 
on  his  entering  surprised  him  much,  as  he  had  first  supposed 
them  to  be  painted.  Beyond  Ayoun,  the  ground  for  the  space 
of  three  miles  is  covered  with  walls,  which  probably  once 
enclosed  orchards  and  well-cultivated  fields.  Abundant  rains 
had  covered  the  plain  with  rich  verdure  towards  the  close 
of  November.! 

At  the  distance  of  two  hours  from  Ayoun,  passing  inter¬ 
mediately  the  ruined  castle  of  Keres,  is  the  ruined  city  Za- 
houet-el-Khudder,  equally  distant  from  which  is  the  ruined 
city  Za!eZe,^which  stands  near  a  copious  spring,  and  is  half 
an  hour  in  circuit.  Burckhardt  records  the  names  of  nine 
ruined  towns  eastward  of  Zaele,  and  gives  the  following 
striking  testimony  analogous  to  that  of  Buckingham,  concern¬ 
ing  the  region  farther  to  the  south  and  eastward  of  Szalkhat, 
showing,  in  either  case,  how  numerous  were  the  cities  which 
overspread  a  land  which  the  ravages  of  the  Arabs  have  con¬ 
verted  into  a  nominal  desert. J 

“The  great  desert  extends  to  the  N.E.,  E.,  and  S.E.  of 
Zaele  ;  to  the  distance  of  three  days'  journey  eastward  there 
is  still  a  good  arable  soil,  intersected  by  numerous  tels,  and 
covered  with  the  ruins  of  so  many  towns  and  villages,  that, 
as  I  am  informed,  in  whatever  direction  it  is  crossed,  the 

*  Burckhardt’s  Travels,  p.  97.  t  Ibid.,  p.  96,  97.  .+  ’bid.,  p.  93-95. 

Y  2 


258 


RUINS  IN  GILEAD  AND  BASHAN,  ETC. 


traveller  is  sure  to  pass,  in  every  day.^i^e  or  six  of  these  ru¬ 
ined  'places.  They  are  all  built  of  the  same  black  rock  of 
which  the  Djebel  consists.”'^ 

Such  from  Zaele  southward  was  the  route  bv  which  Mr. 
Burckhardt  approached  to  Szalkhat ;  that  by  which  he  left 
it  is  not  less  copious  in  illustrations  how  cities  are  desolate 
without  inhabitants,  how  houses  are  still  standing  without 
men  to  tenant  them,  and  how  other  desolate  cities  have  yet 
to  be  raised  up  from  their  foundations. 

Southward  of  Szalkhat  one  hour  and  a  half  stands  the  high 
Telabd  Maaz,  with  a  ruined  city  of  the  same  name  ;  there 
still  remain  large  plantations  of  vines  and  figs.  Near  it  is 
another  ruin  south  one  hour,  Tel  Mashkouk,  towards  which 
are  the  ruins  Tehhoule,  Kfer,  and  Khererribe.\ 

Kereye,  which  he  next  passed,  is  a  city  containing  hun¬ 
dred  houses^  of  which  only /bwr  were  then  inkahited.  “It 
has  several  ancient  towers  and  public  buildings ;  of  the  lat¬ 
ter,  the  principal  has  a  portico  consisting  of  a  triple  row  of 
six  columns  in  each,  supporting  a  flat  roof ;  seven  steps,  ex¬ 
tending  the  whole  breadth  of  the  portico,  lead  from  the  first 
row  up  to  the  third.  Behind  the  colonnade  is  a  birket  sur¬ 
rounded  by  a  strong  wall.”J  Kereye  is  situated  about  three 
hours’  journey  from  Salghud,  and  nearly  the  same  distance 
from  Bozrah.  “  It  appears,”  says  Mr.  Buckingham,  “  to  have 
been,  in  its  flourishing  state,  quite  as  large  as  Bozrah,  judg¬ 
ing  from  the  extent  of  space  now  covered  with  its  ruins. 
There  were  many  of  the  large,  massy  doors  of  stone,  which 
must  be  considered  as  a  peculiarity  of  the  aboriginal  or  earli¬ 
est  style  of  architecture  known  in  this  country. 

Conjoining  Burckhardt’s  account  with  those  of  Mr.  Buck¬ 
ingham,  who  travelled  in  1816,  and  of  Mr.  Robinson,  who 
journeyed  through  the  Haouran  in  18.30,  and  was  accom¬ 
panied  by  Captain  (now  Colonel)  Chesney,  a  succinct  state¬ 
ment  may  be  given  of  the  chief  ruins  or  remains  of  the  nu¬ 
merous  towns  of  the  Haouran. 

Soueida,  situated  on  the  west  side  of  Djebel  Haouran, 
nearly  opposite  to  Zaele  on  the  east,  was  formerly  one  of 
the  largest  cities  of  the  Haouran.  The  circuit  of  its  ruins 
is  at  least  four  miles.  In  a  street  through  which  Burck¬ 
hardt  passed,  the  houses  are  standing  on  both  sides  ;|1  he 
was  twelve  minutes  in  walking  from  the  one  end  to  the  oth- 

*  Burckhardt’s  Travels,  p.  94.  t  Ibid.,  p.  102,  10.3.  t  Ibid.,  p.  103. 

^  Buckingham’s  Travels  among  the  Arab  Tribes,  p.  213.  II  Burckhardt,  p.  81. 


RUINS  IN  GILEAD  AND  BASIIAN,  ETC.  259 

er.  Like  the  streets  of  modern  cities  in  the  East,  it  is  very 
narrow,  but  on  both  sides  there  is  a  narrow  pavement,  and 
arched,  open  rooms,  supposed  to  have  been  shops.  The 
street  commences  at  a  large  arched  gate  in  the  upper  part 
of  the  town,  descending  from  which,  opposite  to  a  fountain, 
is  an  elegant  building  of  the  shape  of  a  crescent,  the  whole 
front  of  which  forms  a  kind  of  niche,  within  which  are 
three  smaller  niches.  In  the  same  street  is  an  edifice  with 
four  rows  of  arches,  on  an  inverted  stone  in  one  of  the  in¬ 
terior  walls  of  which,  a  Greek  inscription  would  seem  to 
indicate  that  Soueida  had  been  the  station  of  the  fourteenth 
legion.  The  edifice,  now  a  mosque,  is  a  hundred  and  fifty 
feet  in  length.  A  tower  eighty  feet  high,  two  sides  of 
which  are  fallen,  forms  the  termination  of  the  street.  The 
town  was  apparently  intersected  with  streets  passing  at 
right  angles  through  each  other,  which  were  paved  with 
stones  so  firmly  imbedded  in  the  soil  that  most  of  them  still 
remain.  The  houses  are  all  of  stone,  and  only  in  such  as 
have  been  recently  repaired  is  there  any  wood  to  be  seen. 
Eight  beautiful  Corinthian  columns,  the  remains  of  a  colon¬ 
nade  which  surrounded  a  large  building,  now  in  ruins,  are 
still  standing  on  the  top  of  the  hill,  four  of  which  support  a 
perfect  entablature.  A  large  building  in  ruins,  to  which  a 
monastery  was  adjoined,  still  bears  the  name  of  El  Kenis- 
set  (the  church),  130  feet  long  by  89  broad.  At  the  east¬ 
ern  end  is  a  large  niche,  thirty-one  feet  across,  with  two 
smaller  ones  on  each  side.  Apparently,  there  were  for¬ 
merly  columns  with  the  lotus  leaf,  forming  a  gallery  all 
around.  It  is  now  a  roofless  ruin.  Soueida  is  (or  was) 
the  capital  of  the  Druses,  and  the  residence  of  their  emir  or 
prince  ;  but,  though  once  a  great  city,  as  it  might  well  be 
made  again,  it  bears  its  proper  designation,  “  a  Druse  vil¬ 
lage,”  containing,  in  1816,  about  200  families.  “It  is  well 
supplied,”  says  Mr.  Buckingham,  “  with  water,  not  only 
from  many  streams  in  its  neighbourhood,  but  also  from  a 
fine  spring  gushing  from  the  solid  rock.  On  the  west  end 
of  the  town  is  a  lake  or  receiver,  lined  with  stone,  about 
600  paces  in  circumference,  and  in  the  centre  of  the  town 
is  a  circular  reservoir,  entirely  lined  with  masonry,  more 
than  three  hundred  paces  in  circuit,  with  a  staircase  to  the 
bottom,  and,  as  variously  stated,  at  least  thirty  or  fifty  feet 
deep.  Among  the  remains  are  those  of  a  Roman  theatre.”* 

*  Backinf^ham,  p.  233-5J39.  Burckhardt,  p.  80-82.  Mr.  G.  Robinson’s  Trav.,  vol. 
ii,,  p.  157-159. 


260 


RUINS  IN  GILEAD  AND  BASHAN,  ETC. 


About  six  miles  northward  of  Soueida  is  the  large  ruined 
town  of  Aatyl,  now  a  small  village  in  the  midst  of  a  wood. 
There  are  the  remains  of  two  ancient  temples.  One  of 
these  is  in  complete  ruins ;  on  each  side  of  the  gate  were 
two  niches,  and  in  front  a  portico  of  columns,  the  number 
of  which  it  is  impossible  to  determine,  the  ground  being 
covered  with  a  heap  of  fragments  of  columns,  architraves, 
and  large  square  stones.  The  other  temple  is  of  elegant 
construction.  The  sculptural  ornaments  are  richly  design¬ 
ed,  and  there  are  concave  niches  in  several  parts.  It  has  a 
portico  of  two  columns  and  two  pilasters,  each  of  which 
has  a  projecting  base  for  a  statue,  elevated  from  the  ground 
above  one  third  of  the  height  of  the  columns,  like  the  pil¬ 
lars  of  the  grand  colonnade  at  Palmyra.  Many  of  the  an¬ 
cient  buildings,  with  stone  roofs,  are  still  standing.  In  the 
centre  of  the  town  is  a  square  tower.  There  was  a  large 
reservoir  for  water,  and  there  are  many  houses  unoccupied, 
there  being  only  (in  1816)  a  few  Druse  families  residing 
among  the  ruins.* 

Kanouat,  or  Gunnawat,  retains  ample  memorials  of  a 
splendid  city.  Its  site  is  overgrown  with  shrubs  and  oaks, 
which  greatly  conceal  its  ruins,  of  which  the  pillars,  that 
rise  from  among  them,  give  the  first  indication  to  the  ap¬ 
proaching  traveller.  The  first  building  described  by  Buck- 
inghamf  is  one  in  which  the  emblem  of  the  cross  is  visible 
in  every  part,  and  the  whole  appearance  of  which  proved  it 
to  have  been  a  Greek  church.  Another  fine  Corinthian 
temple,  75  paces  long  and  35  paces  broad,  had  a  beautiful 
portico  in  front.  On  the  east  of  it  is  an  extensive  building 
with  colonnades,  arches,  doors,  passages,  and  galleries  so 
numerous,  it  is  said,  that  it  would  take  a  whole  day,  at 
least,  to  give  an  outline  plan  of  them.  Another  building, 
like  a  Roman  temple,  and  a  theatre,  are  also  numbered 
among  the  ruins,  lint  the  principal  building  of  Kanouat  is 
a  large  edifice  on  a  height,  supposed  to  have  been  a  palace, 
the  masonry  of  which  is  peculiarly  good.  Large  apart¬ 
ments,  with  columns  highly  ornamented,  still  remain,  one 
of  which  is  above  70  feet  long  and  nearly  50  wide.  Some 
of  the  columns  of  Kanouat,  three  feet  and  a  half  in  diame¬ 
ter,  and  thirty-five  feet  high,  are  worthy  of  being  ranked 
with  the  finest  of  those  of  Gerasa  or  Palmyra.  Towers 
with  two  stories,  raised  upon  arches,  stand  isolated  in  dif- 

*  Burckhardt,  p.  222-224.  Robinson,  p.  156.  t  Buckingham,  p.  242-243. 


RUINS  IN  GILEAD  AND  BASHAN,  ETC. 


261 


ferent  parts  of  the  town,  in  one  of  which  Burckhardt  ob¬ 
served  a  peculiarity  of  structure  met  with  in  other  places, 
the  stones  being  cut  so 
as  to  dovetail  and  fit  very 
closely.  The  streets  were 
all  originally  paved.  The 
magnificent  vestibules  of  the  palace,  with  its  spacious  halls, 
and  the  noble  porticoes  of  the  temples,  and  the  splendid 
columns,  were  lost  upon  the  two  poor  Druse  families  at 
one  time,  and  five  or  six  at  another,  its  only  inhabitants, 
who  were  occupied  in  the  cultivation  of  a  few  tobacco 
fields.* 

Many  hewn  and  sculptured  blocks  of  stone,  evidently  the 
fragments  of  former  edifices,  are  scattered  along  the  road 
leading  from  the  S.W.  to  the  ruins  of  Shobba.  The  walls, 
about  four  miles  in  circumference,  are  in  many  places  per¬ 
fect,  and,  together  with  the  loftiness  of  its  public  edifices, 
attest  the  (ormer  importance  of  the  city.  Eight  gates,  of 
three  arches  each,  lead  through  streets  of  ruined  habita¬ 
tions,  the  pavement  of  which  is  perfect.  Near  the  centre 
of  the  city,  four  massy  cubical  structures,  built  with  square 
stones,  and  quite  solid,  formed  a  sort  of  square,  supposed 
seats  for  statues.  A  large  crescent-shaped  edifice,  with 
several  niches  in  the  front,  bears  the  name  of  the  palace, 
and  is,  or  was,  the  residence  of  the  sheik.  Near  it  stands 
another  large  edifice,  built  with  massy  stones,  with  a  spa¬ 
cious  gate  :  its  interior  consists  of  a  double  range  of  arch¬ 
ed  chambers,  one  above  the  other,  but  is  so  encumbered 
with  ruins  that  the  lower  range  is  choked  up  as  high  as  the 
capitals  of  the  columns  which  support  the  arches.  The 
walls  of  other  large  buildings  yet  remain.  A  semicircular 
wall  ten  feet  thick,  with  nine  arched  entrances,  encloses  a 
theatre  in  good  preservation,  built  of  hewn  stone,  and  encir¬ 
cled  by  a  double  row  of  vaulted  chambers.  Five  or  six 
arches,  forty  feet  high,  are  the  most  conspicuous  remains 
of  an  aqueduct,  which  extended  for  two  miles,  and  termi¬ 
nated  at  a  public  building,  once  a  magnificent  bath.  It  con¬ 
tains  vaulted  entrances  and  spacious  rooms,  one  of  which 
is  seventy  feet  by  thirty,  another  sixty  by  twenty-four, 
height  twenty-seven  feet  eight  inches,  both  arched  with 
lava  mortar  and  other  light  materials,  which  have  fallen  in. 
Attached  to  it  were  three  circular  buildings,  twenty-nine 

*  Burckhardt,  p.  83-80.  Robinson’s  Trav.,  vol.  ii,,  p.  153-158. 


262  RUINS  IN  GILEAD  AND  BASHAN,  ETC. 

feet  in  diameter,  covered  with  a  dome.  All  the  walls, 
some  of  which  are  12  feet,  thick,  are  built  of  large  square 
stones,  and  so  easily  does  it  admit  of  renovation,  that  the 
roofs  of  some  of  the  chambers  were  recently  entire.  One  of 
the  rooms  in  the  bath  would  have  contained  all  the  inhabi¬ 
tants  of  Shobba.  From  the  terrace  of  one  of  its  houses  Mr. 
Buckingham  took  the  bearings  of  four  “  uninhabited  towns, 
all  lying  within  the  estimated  distance  of  six  miles.* 

The  ruins  of  Draa,  or  Edi'ei,  famous  in  the  Israelitish  an¬ 
nals,  cover  a  space  of  two  miles  and  a  half  in  circumference. 
At  the  entrance  of  the  town  is  a  well-built  bridge  of  live 
arches,  in  perfect  preservation.  A  reservoir,  lined  with 
stone,  in  the  hollow  of  the  mountain,  160  yards  by  65  wide, 
and  20  deep,  and,  besides  other  ruins  of  minor  importance, 
including  a  large  building  with  a  cupola,  an  immense  rec¬ 
tangular  edifice,  133  feet  long  by  96  broad,  with  a  double- 
curved  colonnade  all  round,  betoken  no  mean  ancient  city. 
“It  is  now  (1816)  entirely  deserted,  and  the  inhabitants 
have  taken  refuge  in  Ghirbee.”f 

While  many  ruined  or  deserted  towns,  whose  names  never 
had  a  place  in  extant  records,  show  how  imperfect  was  ev¬ 
ery  ancient  testimony  concerning  them,  cities,  on  the  other 
hand,  which  came  into  the  view  of  the  historian,  and  which 
ancient  geographers  could  not  overlook,  have  not  only  been 
given  over  to  oblivion  for  ages,  but  have  sunk  into  such  ob¬ 
scurity,  that,  in  searching  for  ruins  the  most  worthy  of  no¬ 
tice,  they  would  be  passed  over  in  silence,  were  it  not  for 
the  redeeming  virtue  of  their  ancient  fame. 

Mezareib,  supposed  to  occupy  the  site  of  Ashteroth,  the 
royal  city  of  Og,  king  of  Bashan,  is  the  first  station  of  the 
Hadj  route  from  Damascus,  and  can  now  boast  only  a  sin¬ 
gle  castle,  with  nothing  but  its  naked  walls,  in  which  pro¬ 
visions  are  deposited  for  the  pilgrims.  Near  it  stands  a  cas¬ 
tle,  around  which  are  many  ruins  of  ancient  buildings. J 
The  ruined  town  of  Om  Keis  is  supposed  by  Seetzen  to 
be  the  representative  of  Gadara,  and  by  Buckingham  and 
Burckhardt,  of  Gamala :  towns  too  famous,  from  the  great 
slaughters  there  in  the  last  Jewish  war.  Heaps  of  wrought 
stones  now  cover  the  summit  of  the  hill  on  which  it  stood. 
The  remains  of  two  large  theatres  show  that  in  later  ages 

*  Buckingham,  p.  257-261.  Burckhardt,  p.  70-73.  Mr.  Robinson,  p.  146-150. 
t  Buckingham,  p.  16ti.  Robinson,  p.  167,  168. 
t  Burckhardt,  p.  211.  Robinson,  p.  214,  215. 


RUINS  IN  GILEAD  AND  BASHAN,  ETC. 


263 


it  was  a  city  given  to  pleasure.  A  vast  quantity  of  shafts 
and  columns  lie  along  a  once  colonnaded  street  like  that  of 
Gerasa.  Nothing  is  at  present  standing,  but  there  are  m- 
mense  heaps  of  cut  stones,  columns,  &c.,  dispersed  over  the 
plain.  The  walls  of  the  ancient  city  are  still  easily  discern¬ 
ible  ;  within  them  the  pavement  of  the  city  is  very  perfect, 
the  traces  of  chariot  wheels  are  still  marked  in  the  stones. 
The  testimony  of  one  traveller  is  followed  by  that  of  anoth¬ 
er.  “We  found  not  a  single  inhabitant,”  says  Burckhardt. 
“  There  are  no  inhabitants,”  says  Buckingham.* 

The  ruins  of  Ahil,  Abila,  another  of  the  cities  of  the  De- 
capolis,  seems  to  have  nothing  now  worthy  of  diverting  the 
traveller  from  his  course  in  pursuing  his  way  to  more  re¬ 
markable  and  attractive  ruins.  It  is  said  that  neither  build¬ 
ings  nor  columns  remain  standing,  but  there  are  fragments 
of  columns  of  a  very  large  size. 

Ruins  abound  on  the  north  as  well  as  on  the  south  of  the 
Jarmock,  which  is  doubtless  the  Hierornax  of  the  Greeks, 
and  now  bears  the  name  of  Sheirat-el-Mandhour.  Abila  is 
near  its  northern  bank ;  and  the  district  of  Jaulan,  anciently 
Gaulonitis,  lies  to  the  north  of  that  stream,  immediately  on 
the  east  of  the  Lake  Tiberias. 

The  only  inhabited  village  on  the  east  side  of  the  lake  is 
Kherhet  Szammera,  with  some  ancient  buildings.  Its  site 
seems  to  correspond  with  that  of  the  ancient  Hippos,  one  of 
the  chief  cities  of  the  Decapolis.f 

Between  the  Cape  of  Tiberias  and  the  village  of  Feik  is 
an  insulated  hill,  having  extensive  ruins  of  buildings,  walls, - 
and  columns  on  the  top.  They  are,  perhaps,  says  Burck¬ 
hardt,  the  remains  of  the  ancient  town  of  Regaba,  or  Argob.;]: 

Half  an  hour  from  Feik  is  a  heap  of  ruins  called  Radjam- 
el-Abhar.  At  three  quarters  of  an  hour  distant  is  the  ruin¬ 
ed  village  El-Aal,  on  the  side  of  the  Wady  Semak,  which 
empties  itself  into  the  lake  near  the  ruined  city  of  Medjeife- 
ra,  on  the  other  side  of  the  wady.  About  half  an  hour  dis¬ 
tant  from  it  is  the  ruined  city  Kaszr  Berdoweil  (a  castle  of 
Baldwin)  ;  about  two  hours  and  a  quarter  from  Feik  are  the- 
ruins  of  an  extensive  city,  Khastein.^ 

The  ruins  of  towns  thus  overspread  the  country,  whether 
on  the  east  of  the  Lake  of  Tiberias,  or  of  the  Jordan,  or  far- 


*  Buckingham’s  Travels  in  Palestine,  p.  418,  &o.  Burckhardt,  p.  270-273.  Roly 
inson,  p.  211,  21 2.  Irby  and  Mangles,  p.  297. 

+  Burckhardt,  p.  278,  279.  Tbid.  ^  Ibid.,  p  281. 


264 


RUINS  IN  GILEAD  AND  BASHAN,  ETC. 


ther  east  in  the  Haouran,  from  south  to  north,  or  throughout 
the  intermediate'  wide  territory  once  covered  with  the  cities 
of  the  plain. 

Towards  the  north  of  the  Haouran,  and  in  the  Ledja,  ru¬ 
ined  or  deserted  towns  are  not  less  frequent.  To  say,  as 
previously,  that  from  the  top  of  a  house  several  ruined  or 
deserted  towns  may  be  seen  within  the  compass  of  a  few 
miles,  may  forcibly  convey  some  idea  of  their  number,  but 
cannot  impart  any  adequate  conception  of  their  past,  their 
present,  and  prospective  state. 

That  land  of  many  cities  has  now  become  a  land  of  mere 
villages  or  tents.  Of  its  villages  Ezra  is  one  of  the  most 
considerable,  containing,  or  that  twelve  years  ago  contained, 
about  two  hundred  families,  Turks,  Druses,  and  Greek 
Christians,  “Ezra  was  once  a  flourishing  city.  Its  ruins 
are  between  three  and  four  miles  in  circumference.  The 
present  inhabitants  continue  to  live  in  the  ancient  buildings, 
which,  in  consequence  of  the  strength  and  solidity  of  their 
walls,  are  for  the  greater  part  in  complete  preservation.  They 
are  built  of  stone,  as  are  all  the  houses  of  the  villages  of  the 
Haouran  and  Djebel  Haouran,  as  well  as  of  those  in  the  des¬ 
ert  beyond  Bozrah.  In  many  places  are  two  or  three  arched 
chambers,  one  above  the  other,  forming  so  many  stories. 
This  substantial  mode  of  building  prevails  also  in  most  of 
the  public  edifices  remaining  in  the  Haouran.  To  complete 
the  durability  of  these  structures,  most  of  the  doors  were  an¬ 
ciently  of  stone,  and  of  these  many  are  still  remaining  ;  they 
turn  upon  hinges  worked  out  of  the  stone,  and  are  about 
four  inches  thick,  and  seldom  higher  than  four  feet,  though  I 
met  with  some  nine  feet  in  height.”* 

Mr.  Buckingham  describes  one  of  these  houses  at  Ezra, 
which  he  entered  and  examined,  and  which  was  “  unoccu¬ 
pied,”  or  without  man,  though  no  part  of  it  was  destroyed,  or 
even  materially  injured.  The  front  exhibited  the  singular 
kind  of  masonry  before  described,  the  stones  being  inter¬ 
locked  within  each  other  by  a  kind  of  dovetailing,  and  thus 
very  strongly  united  without  cement,  with  small  windows 
both  of  the  square  and  circular  form,  both  in  the  same  range. 
The  central  room  of  this  house  was  large  and  lofty,  and  on 
each  side  of  it  was  a  wing,  separated  from  the  central  room 
by  open  arcades  at  equal  distances  from  the  sides  and  from 
each  other.  The  east  wing  appeared  to  have  been  the 

*  Burckhardt,  p.  57,  58. 


RUINS  IN  GILEAD  AND  BASIIAN,  ETC. 


265 


kitchen,  as  in  it  were  seen  two  large  fireplaces  in  the  stone 
wall,  with  hearths,  as  in  the  farmhouses  in  England,  and  a 
large  earthen  vase,  half  buried  in  the  centre  of  the  floor,  and 
capable  of  containing  at  least  a  hogshead  of  water,  with 
small  recesses,  like  cupboards,  around  the  walls.  This 
room  was  low,  being  not  more  than  a  foot  above  a  tall  man’s 
height ;  but  the  stone  ceiling  was  as  smooth  as  planks  of 
wood,  as  well  as  the  ends  of  the  stones  on  which  the  massy 
beams  that  formed  this  roof  and  ceiling  rested.  In  the  cen¬ 
tre  of  it  was  sculptured  a  wreath,  the  ends  fastened  with  rib¬ 
ands,  and  a  fanciful  design  within  it,  all  executed  in  a  style 
that  proved  it  to  be  beyond  all  question  Roman.  In  the  op¬ 
posite,  or  western  wing,  were  other  low  rooms  ;  and  before 
the  house  was  a  flight  of  stone  steps,  projecting  from  the 
wall,  and  unsupported  except  by  the  end,  imbedded  in  origi¬ 
nal  masonry,  leading  up  to  the  terrace  of  the  dwelling.  In 
front  of  the  whole  was  an  open  paved  court,  and  beyond 
this,  stables  with  stalls  and  troughs,  all  hewn  out  of  stone, 
for  camels,  oxen,  mules,”*  &c. 

Of  the  most  considerable  ruins  which,  in  general,  have 
best  resisted  the  destructive  hand  of  time,  the  walls  of  most 
are  yet  erect ;  and  there  are  the  remains  of  a  range  of  hous¬ 
es  which,  to  judge  from  their  size  and  solidity,  seem  to  have 
been  palaces.  In  the  midst  of  the  present  inhabited  part  of 
the  town  are  the  remains  of  a  large  quadrangular  edifice,  the 
roof  of  which  consisted  of  thirteen  rows  of  arches,  five  in 
each,  parallel  to  each  other,  of  which  three  now  remain. 
The  centre  has  fallen,  roof,  columns,  and  all.  It  was  evi¬ 
dently  used  as  a  place  for  Christian  worship,  subsequently 
converted  into  a  mosque,  and  recently  abandoned.  Adjoin¬ 
ing  it  is  a  square  tower  about  fifty  feet  high  :  similar  struc¬ 
tures  are  frequently  seen  in  the  Druse  villages.  On  the 
south  side  of  the  village  stands  a  square  edifice,  dedicated 
to  St.  George,  measuring  ninety  feet  each  way,  with  a  sem¬ 
icircular  projection  of  the  eastern  side,  which  contained  the 
altar.  The  vaulted  roof,  of  modern  construction,  is  support¬ 
ed  by  eight  square  columns  in  the  centre  of  the  quadrangle. f 

From  the  terrace  of  a  house  in  Ezra,  Mr.  Buckingham 
took  the  bearings  of  eight  towns  within  the  distance  of  eight 
miles,  five  of  which  were  deserted.^  At  nearly  the  same 
distance  to  the  northeast,  a  hill  is  covered  with  the  ruins  of 

t  Mr.  Robinsiun’s  Trav.,  vol,  ii.,  p.  138. 


*  Backinf^harn,  p.  277,  278 
j  Buckingham,  p.  279. 


z 


T« 


266  RUINS  IN  GILEAD  AND  BASHAN,  ETC. 

the  ancient  city  of  Keratha,  of  which  the  foundations  alone 
remain  entire. 

Different  routes  from  Ezra  to  Damascus  give  redoubled 
evidence  that  the  land  on  every  side  continues  to  be  over¬ 
spread  with  ruined  or  deserted  cities. 

At  Mahadjee,  about  two  hours  north  of  Ezra,  where  Mr. 
Buckingham  took  from  a  house-top  the  bearing  of  ten  desert¬ 
ed  towns  within  twelve  miles,  the  previous  accounts  which 
he  had  heard  of  the  district  of  Ledjah  being  full  of  ruined 
towns  and  cities  containing  the  remains  of  large  edifices  and 
innumerable  inscriptions  like  those  at  Bozrah,  Soueida,  and 
Gunnawat,  were  confirmed  by  many  persons,  who  all  united 
in  the  same  testimony,  and  to  whom  that  district  was  famil¬ 
iarly  known.  Leaving  Mahadjee,  he  saw  in  half  an  hour 
the  large  town  of  Ikieehy,  about  four  miles  on  the  left ;  in 
half  an  hour  more  he  came  in  a  line  with  Geryh,  a  town 
with  two  castles,  which  lay  about  half  a  mile  on  the  left ; 
and  at  the  same  time  the  town  of  Gherbet-e-Wali  lay  on 
the  right  three  miles  off,  and  Buseer  and  El  Glioffy  about  one 
mile  distant,  all  within  the  stony  district  of  Ledjah,  all  large, 
and  all  deserted  and  without  inhabitants.”* 

Burckhardt,  leaving  the  same  place  by  a  more  easterly 
route,  reached  in  two  hours  the  village  of  Khabet,  and  in  one 
hour  from  thence  he  passed  the  two  ruined  cities  Zehair  and 
Zebir,  close  to  each  other.  Little  more  than  another  hour 
brought  him  to  the  ruined  village  Djedel ;  and  in  a  like  in¬ 
terval  he  reached  Dhami,  containing  about  three  hundred 
houses,  most  of  which  are  still  in  good  preservation.  There 
is  a  large  building,  whose  gate  is  ornamented  with  sculp¬ 
tured  vine-leaves  and  grapes  like  those  at  Kanouat.  Each 
house  appears  to  have  had  its  cistern,  and  there  are  many 
also  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  the  town,  formed  by  exca¬ 
vations  in  the  rock.  At  half  an  hour’s  distance  is  another 
ruined  place,  Deir  Dhami. f 

In  passing  and  repassing  the  same  places  at  the  short  in¬ 
terval  of  two  years,  Burckhardt  marked  the  rapid  progress 
of  desolation  and  desertion. 

In  1810,  Shaara  was  a  well-peopled  village,  inhabited  by 
a  hundred  Druse  and  Christian  families,  many  of  whom  were 
engaged  in  the  manufacture  of  saltpetre  and  gunpowder.  Of 
the  former  article,  the  sheik  of  the  village  sent  yearly  to  Da¬ 
mascus  one  hundred  cantars.J  In  1812  it  was  deserted 

*  Buckingham,  p.  292.  t  Burckhardt,  p.  110,  111.  t  Ibid.,  p.  114. 


RUINS  IN  GILEAD  AND  BASHAN,  ETC. 


267 


without  an  inhabitant.  Shaara  was  once  a  considerable 
city,  built  on  both  sides  of  a  valley ;  it  has  several  large 
structures  solidly  built,  now  deserted.  In  the  upper  town 
is  an  ancient  edifice,  thirty-six  feet  by  forty,  with  arches 
resting  upon  columns,  now  converted  into  a  mosque.  Near 
it  is  a  tower  forty  feet  high.  Most  of  the  houses  of  the 
town  are  in  good  preservation.  The  walls,  the  rafters  of 
the  roofs,  and  the  doors,  are  all  of  hewn  stone.  The  tracks 
of  ancient  wheels  in  the  pavement,  as  in  many  cities  of  the 
Haouran,  are  everywhere  apparent.  We  did  not  meet,  says 
Mr.  Robinson  in  1830,  with  a  single  inhabitant.* 

In  like  manner,  the  ruined  village  of  Beirit,  which  was 
inhabited  in  1810,  was  in  1812  abandoned.  The  Haouran 
peasants  wander  from  one  village  to  another  ;  in  all  of  them 
they  find  commodious  habitations  in  the  ancient  houses  ;  a 
camel  transports  their  family  and  baggage  ;  and,  as  they  are 
not  tied  to  any  particular  spot  by  private  landed  property  or 
plantations,  and  find  everywhere  large  tracts  to  cultivate,  they 
feel  no  repugnance  at  quitting  the  place  of  their  birth.  In 
one  hour  we  passed  Seleim,  which  in  1810  was  inhabited 
by  a  few  poor  Druses,  but  is  now  abandoned.  Here  are  the 
ruins  of  a  temple,  built  with  much  smaller  stones  than  any 
I  had  observed  in  the  construction  of  buildings  of  a  similar 
size  in  the  Haouran .f 

Distant  an  hour  and  a  half  from  Shaara  is  Missema,  a  ru¬ 
ined  town  of  three  miles  in  circuit.  The  principal  ruin  in 
the  town  is  a  small  elegant  temple  in  tolerable  preservation. 
The  approach  to  it  is  over  a  broad  paved  area  fifty-two  feet 
deep.  Four  Corinthian  columns  stand  in  the  centre  and 
supported  the  roof,  which,  formed  with  light  materials,  has 
fallen  since  it  was  visited  by  Burckhardt.  On  each  side  of 
the  entrance  was  a  niche.  Projecting  from  the  bottom  of 
each  of  the  side  walls  are  four  pedestals  for  busts  or  statues. 
The  centre  niche  at  the  northern  end  is  beautifully  turned 
in  the  shape  of  a  shell.  The  signs  of  idolatry  remain  ;  but, 
beautiful  as  the  temple  is,  the  idolaters  are  gone.  Missema 
has  no  inhabitant ;  we  met,  says  Burckhardt,  with  only  a  few 
workmen  digging  the  saline  earth.  We  wandered  over  the 
ruins,  says  Mr.  Robinson,  in  search  of  an  inhabitant,  but  we 
found  the  place  completely  abandoned.  East  of  Missema  are 
no  inhabited  villages,  but  the  Lochf  contains  several  in  ruins.^ 

*  Burckhardt,  p.  221,  222. 

t  Ibid.,  p.  114,  212.  Mr.  Robinson’s  Trav.,  vol.  ii.,  p.  134-139. 

i  BurCkhardq  p.  115-118.  Robinson,  p,  130-131. 


268 


RUINS  IN  GILEAD  AND  BASHAN,  ETC. 


According  to  the  testimony  of  a  recent  traveller,  depopula¬ 
tion  and  desolation  seem  to  have  progressively  increased 
since  Burckhardt  and  Buckingham  explored  the  Haouran 
and  adjoining  regions.  Mr.  Elliot,  who  passed  along  its 
northwestern  boundary,  states  that  Nowa,  the  ancient  Neve, 
like  Sanamein,  and  several  other  towns  and  villages  in  the 
road,  is  a  heap  of  ruins.  Es-szanamein  (the  two  idols)  was 
a  considerable  village,  with  several  ancient  buildings  and 
towns,  when  Burckhardt  passed  by  it.*  The  surviving  ru¬ 
ins  indicate  the  former  existence  of  a  large  town.  “  Popu¬ 
lation  seem  to  have  decreased  from  thousands  to  hundreds, 
and  from  hundreds  to  decades  :  what  were  once  cities  of 
considerable  magnitude  are  now  wretched  villages,  and  large 
towns  have  not  a  single  tenant  to  perpetuate  the  memory  of 
their  name.”!  “From  Nowa  to  Feik  the  road  crosses  a 
vast  plain  destitute  of  cultivation  and  inhabitants.  Nothing 
is  seen  but  the  ruins  of  tenantless  villages  and  towns  scat¬ 
tered  in  every  direction,  with  multitudes  of  hawks  and  herons 
occupying  the  spots  deserted  by  man.”| 

In  the  region  over  which  we  have  already  passed,  some 
proof  has  been  adduced,  and  some  illustration  given,  that 
many  cities  of  the  land  of  Israel  are  desolate  without  inhab¬ 
itant,  and  the  houses  without  man. 

In  the  lists  of  Arabic  names  of  places  in  Palestine  and  the 
adjoining  regions  by  Mr.  Eli  Smith,  appended  to  the  third 
volume  of  his  and  Dr.  Robinson’s  Researches,  there  are  the 
names  of  one  hundred  and  fifty-six  places  in  ruins  or  desert¬ 
ed  in  the  Haouran  and  El-Lidjah ;  eighty-one  in  Batania  or 
Bashan ;  eighty-six  in  Ajlun ;  and  one  hundred  and  twenty- 
three  in  the  Belkah ;  or  in  all,  as  arranged  and  named,  four 
hundred  and  forty-six  in  the  countries  east  of  the  Jordan. 

Haouran  is  a  land — far  more  than  all  others  that  are,  or, 
perhaps,  ever  were  on  earth — of  cities  that  are  forsaken  or 
deserted,  though  not  ruined,  and  of  houses  still  standing  by 
hundreds,  but  without  men.  A  picture  of  this  is  undesignedly 
given  in  Mr.  Buckingham’s  Travels  among  the  Arab  Tribes. 
It  is  entitled  only.  Caravan  in  the  Plains  of  the  Haouran, 
It  consists  of  camels  as  if  passing  through  the  desert ;  but 
in  the  back-ground  the  thick-set  cities  may  be  seen,  as  three 
or  four  times  the  number  may  sometimes  be  counted  from  a 
single  spot.  (See  Plate.) 

*  Burckhardt,  p.  55.  f  Elliot’s  Trav.,  p.  320,  325.  t  Ibid.,  p.  327. 


cahav.to  on  the  plains  of  the  aADILAN 


■■ 


NATURAL  FERTILITY  OF  THE  COUNTRIES,  ETC.  269 


CHAPTER  IX. 

NATURAL  FERTILITY  OF  THE  COUNTRIES  EAST  OF  THE  DEAD 

SEA  AND  OF  THE  JORDAN. 

To  break  in  a  little  upon  the  sad  and  monotonous  descrip¬ 
tion  of  desolate  or  deserted  cities,  it  may  be  well,  before  pass¬ 
ing  that  river,  which  was  consecrated  more  by  the  baptism  of 
Jesus  than  by  the  miraculous  passage  of  the  Israelites,  even 
though  it  dared  not  then  to  wet  the  soles  of  their  feet,  to  look 
on  the  country  beyond  Jordan,  in  order  to  see  if  there  be  any 
lingering  beauty  there,  even  a  faint  trace  of  what  the  land  of 
Gilead  and  of  Bashan  was,  or  if  there  be  yet  any  substance 
in  it  sufficient,  as  of  old,  to  sustain  many  of  the  thousands 
of  Israel. 

In  vain,  in  the  highest  sense,  would  we  look  for  balm  in 
Gilead  or  fruit  in  Bashan,  while  yet  there  is  no  physician 
there,  and  while  the  covenanted  and  only  rightful  inheritors 
of  the  land  are  yet  wanderers  throughout  the  world,  as  the 
inhabitants  of  their  own  land  are  wanderers  in  their  patrimo¬ 
nial  territories  ;  but,  anticipating  the  time  when  the  Holy 
One  of  Israel  shall  fulfil  his  word,  and  bring  his  people  to 
the  land  of  Gilead  and  Bashan,  and  feed  them  there,  and 
their  soul  shall  there  be  satisfied,  we  may  interrogate  the 
land  by  another  category  than  that  of  Volney,  and  ask  wheth¬ 
er,  while  many  cities  might  be  raised  from  their  ruins  and 
others  be  repaired  to  dwell  in^  it  could  repay  cultivation  now, 
and  yield  such  fruit  to  Israel  as  to  merit  at  last  the  choice 
whiclf  at  first  was  made  of  it. 

In  the  sneering  language  of  Voltaire,  it  might  be  account¬ 
ed  “  a  goodly  land”  by  those  who  had  wandered  forty  years 
in  the  wilderness !  And  were  the  question  now  put  to  kin¬ 
dred  scoffers,  they  might  say  that  any  land,  however  poorly 
enriched  with  nature’s  bounties,  might  be  the  welcome  asy¬ 
lum  of  a  hapless  race,  who  for  many  ages  have  had  no  land 
to  dwell  in  as  their  own,  and  who  have  wandered  genera¬ 
tion  after  generation  without  finding  a  place  whereon  to  rest 
the  sole  of  their  feet. 

But  it  is  not  thus  that  our  interrogatory  is  put.  Our  ene¬ 
mies  being  judges,  we  would  raise  the  question  whether, 

Z  2 


270 


NATURAL  FERTILITY  OF  THE  COUNTRIES 


when  looked  at  again,  that  portion  of  Israel’s  inheritance  over 
which  we  have  glanced  is  not  capable  of  being  what  the 
prophetic  Scriptures  have  declared  that  it  shall  be — no  mean 
or  despicable  portion  of  a  “  goodly  heritage,”  and  “  everlast¬ 
ing  possession”  worthy  of  being  esteemed  “  the  glory  of  all 
lands.” 

In  the  beginning  of  the  present  century,  appeals  could  not 
be  made  to  existing  facts ;  and  Christians  held  the  problem 
unresolved,  if  not  unresolvable,  how  a  land  long  reckoned 
as  a  desert,  and  a  blank  in  every  modern  map,  could  have 
sustained  the  multitudinous  cities  and  towns  which,  accord¬ 
ing  to  the  historical  Scriptures,  were  once  planted  there. 
The  increase  of  knowledge*  has  caused  the  mystery  to  cease, 
and  to  the  lack  of  that  alone  can  it  owe  its  unduly  protract¬ 
ed  existence.  Rather  than  that  the  land  should  have  been 
plenteously  tenanted  in  ancient  times,  where  the  most  an¬ 
cient  towns  assuredly  on  the  face  of  all  the  earth  are  still 
standing,  and  have  in  many  instances  the  seeming  freshness 
of  novelty  in  the  tinge  which  age  has  given  them,  the  wonder 
might  reasonably  arise,  how  many  cities  should  thus  be 
desolate  without  man,  and  how  hundreds  of  houses,  that 
give  good  promise  of  lasting  for  ages,  should,  in  town 
neighbouring  with  town,  be  left  without  man,  without  pos¬ 
sessors,  without  claimants,  without  tenants,  or  any  to  dwell 
therein,  while  wandering  herdsmen  around  them  have  no 
better  shelter  than  a  tent,  while  many  walls,  and  gates,  and 
bars  in  Bashan  are  as  strong  as  ever,  and  the  palaces,  and 
temples,  and  castles  of  Ammon  are  a  stable  for  camels,  and 
a  couching  place  for  flocks. 

These  facts  are  not  without  an  assignable  reason ;  for 
the  manner  in  which  God  has  wrought  out  his  judgments 
may  be  seen.  The  mode  in  which  his  promised  bfessing 
to  Israel  shall  be  accomplished  is  yet,  save  as  revealed,  a 
mystery  to  man.  But  the  fact  that  these  lands  did  sustain 
such  numerous  cities  is  not  less  clear  than  that  it  could  still 
sustain  them  again,  were  the  tenantless  dwellings  crowded 
with  inhabitants,  and  all  the  cities  raised  from  their  founda¬ 
tions,  and  peopled  anew,  without  walls  because  of  the  multi¬ 
tude  of  men,  even  as  the  Israelites  shall  dwell  in  them  on 
their  return. 

On  the  extremity  of  the  Dead  Sea,  Captains  Irby  and 
Mangles,  passing  by  a  route  previously  untrodden  by  any 

*  Dan.,  xii,,  4. 


EAST  OF  THE  DEAD  SEA  AND  OF  THE  JORDAN.  271 

modern  traveller,  except  perhaps  Seetzen,  entered  into  a 
very  prettily  wooded  country,  with  high  rushes  and  marsh¬ 
es  ;  on  their  advancing  farther,  the  variety  of  bushes  and 
wild  plants  became  very  great,  some  of  the  latter  being 
rare  and  of  remarkable  appearance,  presenting  a  fine  field 
for  the  botanist.  Among  the  trees  and  plants  were  various 
species  of  the  acacia,  the  dwarf  mimosa,  the  doom,  the  tam¬ 
arisk,  a  plant  they  had  seen  in  Nubia  called  the  oscar,  the 
wild  cotton  plant,  among  an  infinity  of  others  that  they  nei¬ 
ther  knew  how  to  name  or  describe.*  The  banks  of  the 
River  El-Dara,  which  waters  a  beautiful  shady  ravine,  were 
»  covered  in  profusion  with  the  palm,  acacia,  aspen,  and 
oleander  in  full  flower  and  beauty.  As  they  advanced  to¬ 
wards  Kerek  they  found  themselves  in  corn-fields,  with  cat¬ 
tle  grazing  in  the  valley  through  which  the  River  Souf  Saf- 
fa  runs  towards  the  Dead  Sea ;  the  ancient  mill-courses  are 
still  to  be  seen,  but  the  river  itself  was  hid  by  the  richness 
of  the  vegetation  on  its  banks,  especially  the  purple  olean¬ 
der  in  full  blossom. t  In  the  narrow  valley  at  the  foot  of 
the  castle  hill  of  Kerek  there  runs  a  stream,  with  a  narrow 
line  of  gardens  on  its  banks,  in  which  they  observed  olives, 
pomegranates,  and  figs,  with  some  vegetables. |  South¬ 
ward  of  Kerek  they  ascended  into  a  country  of  downs,  with 
verdure  so  close  as  to  appear  almost  turf,  and  with  corn¬ 
fields  at  intervals.  In  short,  the  whole  of  the  plains  in  this 
quarter,  now  so  deserted,  are  capable  of  rich  cultivation.*^ 
Ghoeyr,  immediately  south  of  the  Dead  Sea,  is  famous 
for  the  excellent  pasturage  produced  by  its  numerous 
springs,  and  it  has,  in  consequence,  become  a  favourite 
place  of  encampment  for  all  the  Bedouins  of  Djebal  and 
Shera.  The  borders  of  the  rivulets  are  overgrown  with 
defle  and  the  shrub  rethem.  The  extensive  plain  near 
Kara  consists  of  a  fertile  soil.  The  broad  A^alley  called  El- 
Bekka  is  extremely  fertile,  and  is  (was)  in  part  cultivated 
by  the  people  of  Szalt  and  the  Arabs  of  the  Belkah.  The 
Bedouins,  from  the  superiority  of  its  pasturage,  have  this 
saying,  “  Thou  canst  not  find  a  country  like  the  Belkah.” 
The  beef  and  mutton  of  this  district  are  preferable  to  those 
of  all  others.  The  herds  of  cows,  sheep,  and  goats  of  the 
Arabs  of  the  Belkah  are  large,  and,  wherever  they  have  the 
prospect  of  being  able  to  secure  the  harvest  against  the  in- 

*  Irby  and  Mangles’  Travels,  p.  334,  335. 

t  Ibid.,  p.  362. 


t  Ibid.,  p.  361. 
^  Ibid.,  p.  370. 


272  NATURAL  FERTILITY  OF  THE  COUNTRIES 

cursions  of  enemies,  they  cultivate  patches  of  the  best  soil 
in  their  territory.  The  rivulet  of  Mayn  flows  through  a 
wood  of  defle-trees,  which  form  a  canopy  over  the  rivulet 
impenetrable  to  the  meridian  sun.*  The  red  flowers  of 
these  trees,  reflected  in  the  water,  gave  it  the  appearance  of 
a  bed  of  roses,t  &c. 

“From  Jerash  to  Ammon,”  says  Lord  Lindsay,  “the 
whole  country  is  one  whole  pasturage,  overspread  with  the 
flocks  and  herds  of  the  Bedouins. 

The  hills  that  enclose  the  valley  of  Azalt  are  laid  out  in 
vine-beds  on  the  eastern  side  of  the  town.  Farther  to  the 
south  the  valley  becomes  more  fertile,  is  well  wooded,  and 
watered  throughout  its  extent,  and  capable  of  sustaining  five 
times  the  population  that  (in  1816)  inhabited  the  town  and 
neighbourhood.  “  On  the  summit  of  a  hill  near  Fahaes  the 
wood  scenery -is  beautiful ;  and  the  fresh  and  full  foliage  of 
evergreen  trees,  contrasted  with  the  snowy  beds  (February) 
out  of  which  their  trunks  sprung,  was  at  once  new  and 
striking.  The  ground,  covered  with  a  fine  red  soil,  exhib¬ 
ited  everywhere  traces  of  former  cultivation  and  great  fer¬ 
tility.  From  Deer-el-Nassara  we  soon  entered  a  thick  for¬ 
est  of  large  trees,  the  greatest  number  of  which  were  ever¬ 
greens  ;  one  of  these,  the  most  numerous  of  the  whole,  was 
as  tall  as  English  elm,  of  equal  girth  to  full-grown  trees  of 
that  kind.  A  variety  of  trees  and  shrubs  in  great  abun¬ 
dance,  present  every  shade  of  colour  and  hue,  from  the 
palest  yellow  to  the  deepest  green.”  On  advancing  far¬ 
ther,  “  The  country,  though  bare  of  wood,  presented  a  great 
extent  of  fertile  soil  lying  entirely  waste,  though  it  was 
equal  to  any  of  the  very  best  portions  of  Galilee  and  Sama- 
ria,  and  capable  of  producing  sustenance  for  a  large  popu¬ 
lation.”  The  plain  (of  Ammon)  was  covered  with  fine 
green  turf,  daisies,  and  a  large  scarlet  flower  in  great  abun¬ 
dance,  and  the  soil  was  extremely  rich.  Beyond  Ammon 
lies  “  a  continued  tract  of  fertile  soil  capable  of  the  highest 
cultivation.”^ 

The  following  testimony  of  Mr.  Buckingham  concerning 
that  country  in  general,  being  highly  valuable,  is  extracted 
at  length.  “We  had  now  arrived  at  a  very  elevated  part 
of  the  plain,  which  had  continued  fertile  throughout  the 
whole  of  the  distance  that  we  had  yet  come  from  Ammon 

*  Burckhardt,  p.  362.  t  Ibid.,  p.  369. 

T  Lord  Lindsay’s  Travels,  vol.  ii.,  p.  110.  Buckin^bam. 

^  Buckingham’s  Travels  among  the  Arab  Tribes,  p.  60-63. 


EAST  OF  THE  DEAD  SEA  AND  OF  THE  JORDAN.  273 

to  this  place,  and  were  still  gradually  rising  as  we  proceed¬ 
ed  on,  when  we  came  to  an  elevation  from  which  a  near 
view  opened  before  us  to  the  southeast,  in  th%direction  in 
which  we  were  travelling.  This  view  presented  to  us,  on 
a  little  lower  level,  a  still  more  extensive  tract  of  contin¬ 
ued  plain  than  that  over  which  we  had  already  passed. 
Throughout  its  whole  extent  were  seen  ruined  towns  in  ev¬ 
ery  direction,  both  before,  behind,  and  on  every  side  of  us, 
generally  seated  on  small  eminences,  all  at  a  short  distance 
from  each  other,  and  all,  as  far  as  we  had  yet  seen,  bearing 
evident  marks  of  former  opulence  and  consideration.  There 
was  not  a  tree  in  sight  as  far  as  the  eye  could  reach ;  but 
my  guide,  who  had  been  over  every  part  of  it,  assured  me 
that  the  whole  of  the  plain  was  covered  with  the  finest  soil, 
and  capable  of  being  made  the  most  productive  corn-land  in 
the  world.  It  is  true  that,  for  a  space  of  more  than  thirty 
miles,  there  did  not  appear  to  me  a  single  interruption  of 
hill,  rock,  or  wood  to  impede  immediate  tillage  ;  and  it  is 
certain  that  the  great  plain  of  Esdraelon,  so  justly  celebra¬ 
ted  for  its  extent  and  fertility,  is  inferior  in  both  to  this 
plain  of  Belkah,  for  so  the  Whole  country  is  called,  from  the 
mountain  of  that  name,  the  Pisgah  of  the  Scriptures.  Like 
Esdraelon,  it  appears  also  to  have  been  once  the  seat  of  an 
active  and  numerous  population.”* 

The  mountainous  ranges  on  both  sides  of  the  Jabbok, 
which  divides  Gilead,  seem  still  to  vie  with  each  other  in 
beauty. 

Before  reaching  Azalt  from  the  south.  Captains  Irby  and 
Mangles  passed  through  a  richly-wooded  and  picturesque 
country.  Near  to  Jerash  they  entered  a  very  picturesque 
country,  most  beautifully  varied  with  hanging  woods,  most¬ 
ly  of  the  vallonia  oak,  laurustinus,  cedar,  common  arbutus, 
arbutus  andrachne,  &c.  ;  the  latter,  in  some  instances,  was 
nearly  six  feet  in  circumference.  At  times  the  grounds  had 
all  the  appearance  of  a  noble  park :  in  short,  nothing  could 
exceed  the  beauty  of  this  day’s  ride  ;  there  were  some  spots 
cultivated  with  corn.  As  we  advanced,  the  wood  became 
more  thick,  and  at  dark  we  stopped  at  a  small  open  space 
covered  with  high  grass  and  weeds.  We  went  out  with 
our  suide  to  a  small  distance  to  endeavour  to  shoot  some 

o 

wild  boars,  which  were  said  to  be  very  numerous  there. f 

On  first  passing  the  Jordan,  opposite  to  BisanJ  they  soon 

*  Buckingham,  p.  85,  86.  t  Irby  and  Mangles,  p.  474,  476,  477. 


274  NATURAL  FERTILITY  OF  THE  COUNTRIES 


entered  on  a  small  plain  very  thickly  set  with  herbage,  and 
particularly  the  mustard  plant,  reaching  as  high  as  the  hor¬ 
ses’  heads.^  Ascending  from  hence,  they  passed  through 
occasional  hill  and  vale  well  wooded,  the  country  gradually 
increasing  in  beauty.  Next  day  they  continued  their  route 
through  the  most  beautiful  woodland  scenery,  with  the  gall 
oak,  wild  olive,  arbutus,  &c.,  &c.,  in  great  luxuriance,  and 
a  variety  of  wild  flowers,  such  as  the  cyclamen,  crimson 
anemone,  &c.,  on  a  rich  soil. 

The  road  from  Adjeloun  towards  Souf  led  through  a  nar¬ 
row  and  picturesque  valley,  which  opens  at  the  farther  end 
into  a  plain,  where  the  road  passes  through  a  woody,  un¬ 
even  country,  extremely  beautiful.  They  observed  the  ar¬ 
butus  of  unusual  dimensions  and  great  beauty ;  one  tree  was 
about  six  feet  in  circumference,  and  in  some  instances  the 
vallonia  oak  and  arbutus  andrachne  were  grow'ing  grafted  to¬ 
gether,  probably  from  the  acorn  or  berry  of  either  having  ac¬ 
cidentally  dropped  into  some  crack  in  the  stem  of  the  other, 
and  taken  root !  A  valley  northeast  of  Souf  is  very  beauti¬ 
fully  wooded,  having  a  picturesque  stream,  its  banks  cover¬ 
ed  with  the  oleander.* 

There  is  such  a  diversity  in  the  elevation  of  the  plains  of 
Syria,  that,  while  that  of  the  Jordan  is  remarkably  low,  oth¬ 
ers  may  be  appropriately  designated  a  taMe  land. 

After  passing  the  Jordan,  Mr.  Buckingham  ascended  to 
one  plain  after  another  ;  and  on  ascending  Jebel  Azalt,  he 
describes  it  as  “  a  fine  fertile  plain,  with  undulations  here 
and  there,  a  rich  green  turf,  abundance  of  wood,  and  pines 
nodding  on  the  surrounding  eminences.  From  hence  he  en¬ 
joyed  a  magnificent  view,  as  beautiful  in  many  of  its  features 
as  it  was  grand  in  the  whole,  and  extending  in  every  direc¬ 
tion  almost  as  far  as  the  range  of  vision.”! 

In  describing  his  journey  through  the  mountains  of  Gile¬ 
ad,  he  thus  writes :  “  We  had  no  sooner  passed  the  summit 
of  the  second  range,  going  down  a  short  distance  on  its  east¬ 
ern  side  by  a  very  gentle  descent,  than  we  found  ourselves 
on  plains  of  nearly  as  high  a  level  as  the  mountains  or  the 
hills  themselves,  and  certainly  eight  hundred  feet,  at  least, 
above  the  stream  of  the  Jordan.  The  character  of  the  coun¬ 
try,  too,  was  quite  different  from  anything  that  I  had  seen  in 
Palestine,  from  my  first  landing  at  Soor  to  the  present  mo¬ 
ment.  We  were  now  in  a  land  of  extraordinary  richness, 

*  Irby  and  Mangles,  p.  307,  308.  t  Buckingham’s  Travels  in  Palestine,  p.  19. 


EAST  OF  THE  DEAD  SEA  AND  OF  THE  JORDAN.  275 

abounding  with  the  most  beautiful  prospects,  clothed  with 
thick  forests,  varied  with  verdant  slopes,  and  possessing  ex¬ 
tensive  plains  of  a  fine  red  soil,  now  covered  with  thistles 
as  the  best  proof  of  its  fertility,  and  yielding  in  nothing  to 
the  celebrated  plains  of  Zabulon  and  Esdraelon,  in  Galilee 
and  Samaria. 

“We  continued  our  way  to  the  northeast  through  a  coun¬ 
try,  the  beauty  of  which  so  surprised  us  that  we  often  ask¬ 
ed  each  other  what  were  our  sensations,  as  if  to  ascertain 
the  reality  of  what  we  saw,  and  persuade  each  other,  by 
mutual  confessions  of  our  delight,  that  the  picture  before  us 
was  not  an  optical  illusion.  The  landscape  alone,  which 
varied  at  every  turn,  and  gave  us  new  beauties  from  every 
different  point  of  view,  was  of  itself  worth  all  the  pains  of 
an  excursion  to  the  eastward  of  Jordan  to  obtain  a  sight  of ; 
and  the  park-like  scenes  that  sometimes  softened  the  roman¬ 
tic  wildness  of  the  general  character  as  a  whole,  reminded 
us  of  similar  spots  in  less  neglected  lands.”* 

The  first  part  of  our  route  (from  Souf  to  Oom-Keis),  says 
Mr.  Robinson,  “  for  nearly  an  hour  and  a  half,  lay  through 
a  thick  forest  of  very  fine  oak-trees.  Under  any  other  cir¬ 
cumstances,  nothing  could  be  more  agreeable  than  our  ride 
through  it ;  but  it  was  notorious  for  giving  shelter  to  ill-dis¬ 
posed  persons.  The  country  we  passed  through  this  day 
was  of  the  most  beautiful  description,  being  slightly  undu¬ 
lated,  the  crests  and  sides  of  the  hills  clothed  with  the  mag¬ 
nificent  oaks,  for  which  this  district,  the  ancient  Bashan,  is 
still,  as  of  old,  justly  celebrated.  But  for  my  turbaned  com¬ 
panions,  and  the  absence  of  detached  villas,  I  could  frequent¬ 
ly  have  thought  myself  in  Europe.  At  sunset  we  arrived  at 
Favur,  where  we  supped  in  the  sheik’s  house,  the  inhabitants 
being  all  Mussulnien.  They  seemed  ill  disposed  towards  us, 
were  suspicious  and  disobliging.  The  place  where  we  pass¬ 
ed  the  night  was  a  large  excavated  cavern,  dark  and  dirty, 
and  more  like  a  den  of  thieves  than  the  dwellings  of  civil¬ 
ized  people.”! 

“  The  whole  of  the  country,”  says  Lord  Linsday,  “  that 
we  had  yet  traversed  on  the  east  of  the  Jordan,  from  the 
Lake  of  Tiberias  to  the  Red  Sea,  and  from  Oom-Keis  to 
Heshbon,  is  fertile  in  the  extreme,  and  the  woody  scenery 
of  the  mountain  districts  of  Belkah  and  Adjeloun  scarcely 

*  Buckingham’s  Travels  in  Palestine,  p.  322. 

t  Robinson’s  Travels  in  Palestine,  vol.  ii.,  p.  209,  211. 


276  NATURAL  FERTILITY  OF  THE  COUNTRIES 

to  be  surpassed  in  beauty.  The  soil  is  so  generally  fertile  as 
to  be  capable  of  producing  almost  everything  that  is  required. 

“  The  wood-scenery  spoken  of  in  such  high  terms  by 
Buckingham,  Irby  and  Mangles,  &c.,  began  to  appear  about 
a  quarter  Of  an  hour  after  leaving  Naimi ;  trees,  thinly  scat¬ 
tered  at  first,  but  which  soon  became  numerous  ;  and  the  road 
henceforward  was  extremely  pretty,  winding  over  hills,  and 
through  vales,  and  narrow  rocky  ravines  overhung  with  the 
valonidi  oak,  and  other  beautiful  trees  of  which  I  knew  not 
the  names.  Approaching  .Jerash  (Souf  lying  considerably 
to  the  west),  the  woods  had  suffered  much  from  fire ;  the 
whole  mountain  side  had  been  burned ;  the  herbage  was  quite 
consumed ;  many  trees  had  perished  in  the  conflagration  ; 
some  were  standing  half  alive,  half  dead,  while  others  had 
quite  escaped.  Jerash  lay  before  us  ;  after  a  steep  and  rocky 
descent,  we  reached  the  bank  of  a  beautiful  little  stream, 
thickly  shaded  by  tall  oleanders,  and,  passing  through  hun¬ 
dreds  of  sheep  and  goats  watering  at  it,  ascended  to  the  sum¬ 
mit  of  a  hill  in  the  midst  of  the  ruins,”*  &c. 

“  Between  Aszalt  and  El-Hussan  the  scenery  is  most  love¬ 
ly.  From  the  western  extremity  of  Mount  Gilead,  in  an  al¬ 
most  continuous  descent  to  the  foot  of  Gebel  Adjeloun,  ev¬ 
ery  minute  introduces  you  to  some  new  scene  of  loveliness. 
The  path  wound  through  thickets  of  the  most  luxuriant 
growth,  and  of  every  shade  of  verdure,  frequently  overshad¬ 
owing  the  road  and  diffusing  a  delicious  coolness,!  Im¬ 
mediately  after  crossing  the  Zerka  we  rested  at  a  large  cave 
formed  by  overhanging  rocks  ;^the  river  in  front  of  us,  and 
a  wild  almond-tree  near  its  mouth,  which  supplied  us  with 
a  welcome  addition  to  some  raisins,  the  best  we  ever  tasted, 
that  we  had  procured  at  Aszalt.  It  was  oppressively  hot  in 
this  ravine,  but  delightfully  cool  again  as  we  ascended  Ge¬ 
bel  Adjeloun,  through  scenery  of  more  grandeur  than  that  of 
Mount  Gilead,  and  to  the  full  as  beautiful.  After  three  quar¬ 
ters  of  an  hour  of  steep  ascent,  the  valonidis  reappeared  on 
both  sides  of  a  very  beautiful  ravine,  running  up  into  the  mount¬ 
ains — not  valonidis  only,  but  it  was  clothed  to  the  very  sum¬ 
mit  with  prickly  oaks  and  olive-trees,  tufted  among  the  crags 
— superb  oleanders  blossoming  in  the  dry  bed  of  a  torrent, 
alongside  of  the  road.  Views  more  and  more  magnificent, 
towards  Mount  Gilead,  opened  upon  us  the  higher  we  as- 

*  Lord  Linsday’s  Travels,  vol.  ii.,  p.  102 

t  Ibid.,  p.  122,  123. 


EAST  OF  THE  DEAD  SEA  AND  OF  THE  JORDAN.  277 

cended  ;  corn-fields  ready  for  the  sickle  revealed  the  vicin¬ 
ity  of  a  town — Bounna,  to  wit — which  we  reached  after  an 
hour  and  twenty  minutes’  ascent ;  the  olives  ceased  a  little 
beyond  it,  but  arbutuses,  firs,  ash,  prickly  oaks,  and  a  spe¬ 
cies  of  the  valonidi  with  a  larger  leaf  than  the  usual  sort  (per¬ 
haps  the  oak  of  Bashan),  succeeded.  After  two  hours  and  a 
half  we  reached  a  beautiful  broad  terrace  of  about  twenty 
minutes  in  length,  and  partly  covered  with  corn,  just  below 
the  highest  point  of  Gebel  Adjeloun,  towering  up  most  ma¬ 
jestically  on  the  left,  its  noble  crags  almost  hidden-among 
beautiful  trees.  From  the  termination  of  this  plain  or  terrace, 
we  descended,  in  half  an  hour,  to  Zebeen,  through  noble  fir- 
trees,  far  finer  than  those  of  Mount  Gilead.  The  beauty  of 
the  descent  surpassed,  if  possible,  that  of  the  ascent,  and  the 
northward  view  was  most  splendid.  But  a  painter  only 
could  give  an  idea  of  these  scenes  of  beauty  and  grandeur.* 
“  Our  next  day’s  route  was  through  very  lovely,  but  quiet¬ 
er  scenery,  valleys  full  of  olives,  corn-fields  reclaimed  from 
the  forest,  and  villages.  At  the  bottom  of  the  hill  below 
Zebeen  we  crossed  the  brook  Napalin,  shaded  by  beautiful 
oleanders.  A  beautiful  narrow  glen  afterward  ushered  us 
into  a  broad  valley,  richly  wooded  to  the  summits  of  the  hills 
with  noble  prickly  oaks,  a  few  pine-trees  towering  over  them. 
I  saw  an  occasional  degub-\xee  or  arbutus,  but  the  prevailing 
trees  were  oaks,  prickly  and  broad  leaved  :  it  was  forest 
scenery  of  the  noblest  character — next  to  that  of  old  Eng¬ 
land,  with  which  none  that  I  ever  saw  can  stand  compari¬ 
son.  On  our  journey  to  Jerash  by  a  different  route  from  that 
of  Irby  and  Mangles,  Banks,  and  Buckingham,  we  wondered 
at  the  encomiums  lavished  by  those  gentlemen  on  the  wood¬ 
land  scenery  of  these  regions  ;  we  now  thought  that  enough 
had  scarcely  been  said  in  their  praise.”! 

Jebel  Adjeloun,  extending  from  the  Zerka  to  the  Yarmuk, 
is  described  by  Mr.  Eli  Smith  as  presenting  “  the  most 
charming  rural  scenery  that  he  had  seen  in  Syria.  A  con¬ 
tinued  forest  of  noble  trees,  chiefly  of  the  evergreen  oak, 
covers  a  large  part  of  it ;  while  the  ground  beneath  is  cloth¬ 
ed  with  luxuriant  grass,  which  we  found  a  foot  or  more  in 
height,  and  decked  with  a  rich  variety  of  wild  flowers.”! 

These  direct,  explicit,  and  uniformly  accordant  testimo¬ 
nies  give  proof  that,  notwithstanding  all  the  desolation  that 

*  Lord  Lindsay,  p.  125-127.  t  Ibid.,  p.  128,  129. 

t  Smith  and  Robinson,  Appendix,  vol.  hi.;  p  162. 

A  A 


278  NATURAL  FERTILITY  OF  THE  COUNTRIES 

has  come  on  an  almost  dispeopled  land,  the  natural  fertility 
of  the  Belkah  is  yet  unimpaired.  Its  peculiar  excellence 
as  a  pastoral  country  is  yet  as  distinguished  as  ever.  It  re¬ 
tains  every  capability  of  being  what  it  was  when  the  Israel¬ 
ites  first  entered  it ;  and  though  the  ignorant  and  idle  Arabs 
leave  cisterns,  anciently  excavated  with  great  labour  from 
the  rock,  useless  and  dry,  rather  than  expend  a  light  and 
momentary  effort  in  clearing  away  the  rubbish  merely  to  let 
the  water  flow  into  them,  so  richly  has  Nature  endowed  the 
land,  that  even  the  Bedouins,  making  its  excellence  their 
boast,  can  appreciate  the  land  they  do  nothing  to  improve  ; 
and  every  traveller  now  sees  it  to  be,  what  the  children  of 
Reuben  and  Gad  pronounced  it  at  first,  “  the  land  is  a  land 
for  cattle.” 

Beauty  still  lingers  in  Gilead,  as  if  in  its  own  dwelling- 
place,  from  which  it  will  not  depart.  Like  many  other  por¬ 
tions  of  the  land  of  Israel,  the  wild  boar  out  of  the  forest 
doth  devour  it.  Like  as  in  other  mountains  of  Israel,  the 
prowling  robber  has  caused  the  wayfaring  man  to  cease,  so 
that  for  preceding  ages»7zone  have  'passed  through  them  ;  and 
the  fear  of  the  wild  tenants  of  the  forest,  whether  men  or 
beasts,  is  an  alloy  to  the  pleasure  which  the  native  loveli¬ 
ness  of  the  land  imparts  to  the  passing  visitant.  Where 
ruined  cities  retain  many  a  sign  of  ancient  luxury,  which 
made  art  the  handmaid  of  pleasure  and  of  ease,  the  weary 
traveller  rests  not  now  beneath  a  vaulted  canopy  in  a  pillar¬ 
ed  mansion,  but,  from  necessity,  betakes  himself  for  a 
night’s  repose  to  an  excavated  cave,  more  like  to  “  a  den  of 
thieves  than  to  a  dwelling  of  civilized  men.” 

The  plain  of  the  Haouran,  as  described  by  Mr.  Eli  Smith, 
has  a  gentle  undulating  surface,  is  arable  throughout,  and, 
in  general,  very  fertile.  With  the  rest  of  the  Haouran,  it  is 
the  granary  of  Damascus.  The  soil  belongs  to  government, 
and  nothing  but  grain  is  cultivated.  Hardly  a  tree  appears 
anywhere.* 

In  many  parts  of  the  Haouran,  says  Burckhardt,  I  saw 
the  most  luxuriant  wild  herbage,  through  which  my  horse 
with  difficulty  made  his  way.  Artificial  meadows  can 
hardly  be  finer  than  these  desert  fields  ;  and  it  is  this  which 
renders  the  Llaouran  so  favourite  an  abode  of  the  Bedouins. 
The  peasants  of  Syria  are  ignorant  of  the  advantages  of 


*  Smith  and  Robinson’s  Palestine,  Appendix,  vol.  iii.,  p.  150. 


EAST  OF  THE  DEAD  SEA  AND  OF  THE  JORDAN.  279 

feeding  their  cattle  with  hay  :  they  suffer  their  superfluous 
grass  to  wither  away.* 

“  The  peasants  of  the  Haouran  are  extremely  shy,”  says 
the  same  inquisitive  and  intelligent  traveller,  “  in  speaking 
of  the  produce  of  their  land,  from  an  apprehension  that  the 
stranger’s  inquiries  may  lead  to  new  extortions.  I  have 
reason  to  believe,  however,  that  in  middling  years  wheat 
yields  twenty-five  fold;  in  some  parts  of  the  Haouran,  this 
year,  the  barley  has  yielded  fifty-fold,  and  even  in  some 
instances  eighty.  A  sheik,  who  formerly  inhabited  the 
small  village  of  Boreika,  on  the  southern  borders  of  the 
Ledja,  assured  me,  that  from  twenty  mouds  of  wheat-seed 
he  once  obtained  thirty  gaharas,  or  one  hundred  and  twen¬ 
ty  fold.  Fields  watered  by  rain  yield  more  in  proportion 
to  the  seed  sown  than  those  that  are  artificially  watered ; 
this  is  owing  to  the  seed  being  sown  thinner  in  the  former. 
The  Haouran  crops  are  sometimes  destroyed  by  mice, 
though  not  so  frequently  as  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Homs 
and  Hamath.  Where  abundance  of  water  may  be  conduct¬ 
ed  into  the  field  from  neighbouring  springs,  the  soil  is  again 
sown,  after  the  grain  harvest,  with  vegetables,  lentiles, 
pease,  sesamums,”f  &c. 

The  last  remark  may  be  kept  in  the  reader’s  view  as 
giving  some  indication  how,  in  peaceful  times,  of  which 
knowledge  shall  be  the  stability,  the  ploughman  shall  over¬ 
take  the  reaper,  and  the  treader  of  grapes  him  that  soweth 
seed,^  &c. ;  but  in  the  present  unsettled,  oppressive,  and 
marauding  times,  the  change  accomplished  in  a  single  spot 
in  a  year  or  two  may  supply  some  token  of  the  universal 
and  simultaneous  transformation  which  the  now  desolate 
scene  is  destined  to  undergo. 

“  When  I  passed  this  place  (El  Merdjan)  in  1810,”  says 
Burckhardt,  “  I  found  a  single  Christian  family  in  it ;  I  now 
found  eight  or  ten  families,  &;c.  They  had  brought  the 
fertile  soil  round  El  Merdjan  into  cultivation,  and  had  this 
year  sown  eight  gaharas  of  wheat  and  barley,  or  about  a 
hundred  and  twenty-eight  cwt.  English.  The  taxes  paid 
by  the  village  amounted  to  a  thousand  piasters,  or 
sterling,  besides  the  tribute  extorted  by  the  Bedouins.”^ 

This  short  extract  at  once  shows  how  speedily  the  land 
may  be  cultivated  anew,  and  how  speedily  also  a  grinding 


*  Burckhardt,  p.  246. 
t  Amos,  ix.,  13. 


t  Ibid.,  p.  294,  297. 

4  Burckhardt,  p.  213. 


280 


NATURAL  FERTILITY  OP  THE  COUNTRIES 


oppression  may  renew  its  desolation.  Merdjan  had  indeed, 
when  inhabited  by  a  single  family,  “  escaped  the  rapacious 
hands  of  the  Arabs,”  and  “  was  picturesquely  situated  on  a 
gentle  declivity  near  the  foot  of  a  mountain,  and  was  sur¬ 
rounded  by  orchards  and  poplar-trees.*  But  as  soon  as 
ever  any  portion  of  the  land  was  cultivated,  it  escaped  no 
longer  the  extortions  of  the  Arabs,  and  was  subjected,  be¬ 
sides,  to  a  tax  of  at  least  £5  for  each  family  ;  and  the  boun¬ 
ties  of  Nature  could  not  long  survive  the  rapacity  of  man. 

The  immediate  causes  of  the  desolation  of  so  fertile  a 
country  as  the  Haouran,  and  of  the  depopulation  or  deser¬ 
tion  of  its  indestructible  cities,  are  too  apparent  to  escape 
the  notice  of  the  observant  traveller.  The  following  re¬ 
marks  of  Mr.  Burckhardt,  forced  on  his  notice,  expound  the 
seeming  mystery  :  “  The  oppressions  of  the  government  on 
one  side,  and  those  of  the  Bedouins  on  the  other,  have  re¬ 
duced  the  Fellah  of  the  Haouran  to  a  state  little  better  than 
that  of  the  wandering  Arab.  Few  individuals,  either 
among  the  Druses  or  Christians,  die  in  the  same  village  in 
which  they  were  born.  Families  are  continually  removing 
from  one  place  to  another :  in  the  first  year  of  their  new 
settlement  the  sheik  acts  with  moderation  towards  them  ; 
but  his  vexations  becoming  in  a  few  years  insupportable, 
they  fly  to  some  other  place  where  they  have  heard  that 
their  brethren  are  better  treated,  but  they  soon  find  that  the 
same  system  prevails  over  the  whole  country.  Sometimes 
it  is  not  merely  the  pecuniary  extortion,  but  the  personal 
enmity  of  the  sheik,  or  of  some  of  the  head  men  of  the  vil¬ 
lage,  which  drives  a  family  from  their  home,  for  they  are 
always  permitted  to  depart.  This  continued  wandering  is 
one  of  the  principal  reasons  why  no  village  in  the  Haouran 
has  either  orchards,  or  fruit-trees,  or  gardens  for  the  growth 
of  vegetables.  ‘  Shall  we  sow  for  strangers'?’  was  the  an¬ 
swer  of  a  Fellah,  to  whom  I  once  spoke  on  the  subject, 
and  who,  by  the  word  strangers,  meant  both  the  succeeding 
inhabitants  and  the  Arabs  who  visit  the  Haouran  in  the 
spring  and  summer.”! 

It  is  thus,  according  to  the  prophetic  word,  that  Bashan, 
like  Carmel,  has  shaken  off,  and  still  shakes  off,  its  fruits. J 
It  is  thus  also,  as  the  Lord  hath  said,  that  the  inhabitants 
of  the  land  of  Israel,  as  in  manifold  similar  illustrations  be¬ 
sides,  eat  their  bread  with  carefulness  ;  and  the  land  is 

*  Burckhardt,  p.  110.  t  Ibid.,  p.  299.  t  Isaiah,  xx.'ciii.,  9.  Ezek  ,  xii.,  19 


■1 


EAST  OF  THE  DEAD  SEA  AI^D  OF  THE  JORDAN.  281 

desolate  from  all  that  was  therein,  because  of  the  violence 
of  all  them  that  dwelt  therein. 

According  to  the  late  testimony  of  Mr.  Eli  Smith,  the 
same  causes  continue  in  direful  operation.  “  Respecting 
the  whole  of  the  Haouran,  it  is  nessessary  to  observe,  that 
the  inhabitants  so  often  move  from  village  to  village,  that  the 
fact  of  a  village  having  been  inhabited  when  we  were  there 
is  no  evidence  that  it  is  so  at  the  present' time.”* 

While  there  are  thus  obvious  causes  of  the  existing  des¬ 
olation,  such  as  would  reduce  into  similar  waste  any  region 
however  fertile  naturally,  the  traveller  cannot  but  contem¬ 
plate  what  the  Haouran  has  been.  While  he  looks  at  the 
richness  of  the  soil,  as  well  as  the  remains  of  the  cities,  so 
these  give  manifest  proof  what  the  Haouran  yet  may  be  un¬ 
der  another  government  than  that  of  Rome. 

“  The  soil  of  the  great  plain  of  the  Haouran  consists  of  a 
fine  black  earth,  of  great  depth,  but  apparently,  at  the  pres¬ 
ent  day,  very  little  cultivated.  It  must  have  been  an  agree¬ 
able  and  imposing  prospect  indeed,  to  those  who  looked 
down  upon  its  rich  productions,  at  the  time  the  whole  was 
brought  under  culture  by  the  numerous  and  industrious  Ro¬ 
man  colonies  that  once  inhabited  these  territories — its  gold¬ 
en  crops  bending  submissively  under  the  breezes  that  cross¬ 
ed  its  surface,  like  the  smooth  undulations  of  the  wide  ocean, 
and,  like  it,  having  no  other  boundary  than  the  horizon  itself.” 

Beyond  the  wide-extended  plains  of  the  Haouran  lies  an¬ 
other  Gilead,  and  again  beyond  it  another  Haouran,  if  not 
also  a  third,  divided  from  each  other  by  a  mountainous  range. 
Numerous^  wadys  descend  from  both  sides  of  Djebel  Ha¬ 
ouran  into  the  adjacent  plains.  The  mountain  is  in  many 
places  covered  with  oaks.  In  all  their  villages  there,  as 
well  as  in  the  deep  valley  of  Essoueida,  the  Druses  grow  a 
great  deal  of  cotton,  and  the  cultivation  of  tobacco  is  general 
over  all  the  mountain.  The  soil  of  the  uncultivated  district 
which  skirts  its  eastern  side  is  of  a  red  colour,  and  appears 
to  be  very  fertile  ;  it  is  said  to  excel  even  that  of  the  darker 
soil  of  the  Haouran.  The  very  name  of  “  the  great  desert” 
east  of  Zaele,  Telloul,  from  its  tels  or  hillocks,  bespeaks  its 
ancient  populousness. f  The  ruins  of  the  many  cities  and 
villages  with  which  it  is  covered  in  every  direction ;  the 
good  arable  soil  which  it  still  retains  for  the  distance  of  three 

*  Robinson  and  Smith’s  Palestine,  Appendix,  vol.  iii.,  p.  150. 
t  Burckhardt,  p.  77,  94,  105. 

A  A  2 


282  NATURAL  FERTILITY  OF  THE  COUNTRIES 

days’  journey  eastward  ;  and  the  fact,  stated  by  Burckhardt, 
that  water  is  easily  found  on  digging  to  the  depth  of  three 
or  four  feet,  all  tend  to  show  that,  desolate  as  it  has  become, 
according  to  His  word,  the  Lord  of  the  whole  earth,  as  the 
God  of  Israel  shall  be  called,  hath  formed  it,  as  if  in  design¬ 
ed  preparation  for  the  final  illustration,  which  it  is  yet  des¬ 
tined  to  supply,  of  the  fulness  of  his  bounty  and  the  faithful¬ 
ness  of  his  Word,  when,  even  as  literally  as  judgments  have 
fallen  on  its  desolate  plains  and  ruined  and  deserted  cities, 
the  desert,  renouncing  at  last  that  name  forever,  shall  blos¬ 
som  as  the  rose,  and  the  little  hills  of  Telloul  shall  rejoice 
on  every  side. 

It  is  full  time  to  adduce  the  promises  of  the  Lord  when 
speculation  is  begun  as  to  what  that  land  shall  be,  and  as  to 
whom  it  shall  belong  as  possessors. 

At  Gheryeh  (Kereye),  itself  a  deserted  town  of  five  hun¬ 
dred  houses,  without  an  inhabitant,  situated  on  the  eastern 
border  of  the  Haouran,  Mr.  Buckingham,  looking  from  west 
to  east,  has  the  following  striking  reflections  on  the  land  all 
around.  Indebted  as  the  author  has  already  been  to  his  in¬ 
teresting  works,  he  cannot  here  forbear  from  largely  renew¬ 
ing  the  obligation. 

“  The  hills  seen  by  us  from  hence  on  our  right,  forming 
this  eastern  border,  were  now  covered  with  snow ;  and  be¬ 
yond  these,  again,  was  another  great  plain,  on  a  higher  lev¬ 
el  to  the  eastward,  said  to  be  in  all  respects  equal  to  that  of 
the  Haouran  in  the  fertility  of  its  soil,  and  the  abundant  re¬ 
mains  of  a  numerous  population.  It  is  really  humiliating  to 
see  so  fine  a  country  in  the  possession  of  so  barbarous  a 
government  as  that  of  the  Turks,  and  abandoned,  as  it  were, 
to  sterility  and  desolation.  On  the  mountains  and  plains  of 
these  districts  of  Belkah,  Adjeloun,  and  Haouran,  extend¬ 
ing  from  the  Dead  Sea  to  the  sources  of  the  Jordan  north, 
and  from  the  banks  of  that  river  to  the  extreme  limits  of  that 
cultivable  land  on  the  east,  there  w’ould  be  room  for  a  mill¬ 
ion  of  human  beings  to  form  a  new  colony  j  and  so  far  from 
doing  injury  to  their  surrounding  neighbours,  they  would  en¬ 
rich  every  country  that  was  on  their  borders,  and  form  a 
centre  from  which  industry,  art,  science,  and  morals  might 
extend  their  influence,  and  irradiate  regions  now  the  prey  of 
ignorance,  rapine,  and  devastation.  If  the  ruler  of  Turkey 
knew  his  interest  well,  he  would  imitate  the  conduct  of  Shah 
Abbas  the  Great  of  Persia,  who  brought  a  colony  of  Arme- 


EAST  OF  THE  DEAD  SEA  AND  OF  THE  JORDAN.  283 

nians  from  Julfa,  and  planted  them  near  Ispahan,  where  they 
enriched  themselves,  and  did  incalculable  benefit  to  the  Per¬ 
sians  also,  until  they  were  persecuted  by  a  succeeding  gov¬ 
ernment  who  pursued  a  different  policy.  No  part  of  the 
Turkish  dominions  could  probably  be  selected,  with  less 
risk  of  interfering  with  the  property  and  rights  of  others,  or 
with  more  certainty  of  success,  than  these  districts  which  I 
have  enumerated,  where  the  colonists  would  find  a  fertile 
soil,  and  springs  of  water  capable  of  being  led  in  any  direc¬ 
tion  for  irrigation  ;  towns  and  houses  built  ready  for  their  oc¬ 
cupation  ;  a  delicious  climate,  and  a  wide  extent  of  country 
on  all  sides,  for  the  consumption  of  their  cattle,  grain,  and 
even  manufactures.  These  impressions  were  forcibly  ob¬ 
truded  on  my  mind  at  different  periods  of  my  journey,  but 
never  more  strongly  than  here,  upon  the  borders  of  the  great 
eastern  and  western  plains  ;  but,  however  ardently  I  might 
indulge  the  desire  to  see  a  step  so  favourable  to  progressive 
improvement  suggested,  I  had  seen  too  much  of  Turkish  ap¬ 
athy  and  ignorance  to  hope  for  the  period  in  which  such  a 
dream  of  happiness  would  ever  be  realized,  in  my  day  at 
least.”*' 

Of  the  period  in  which  better  things  than  those  here  sur¬ 
mised  shall  come  to  pass,  this  is  not  specially  the  place  to 
speak  :  of  that,  more  hereafter.  The  degree  of  desolation, 
it  may  at  least  be  said,  proves  not  that  the  time  of  renovation 
is  distant,  but  rather  that  it  is  near. 

That  man  were  not  a  lover  of  his  race  who  could  look  on 
cities  without  inhabitants,  and  houses  without  man,  and  on 
fertile  plains  so  wide  as  seeming  to  be  bounded  only  by  the 
horizon,  and  so  rich  that  a  wretched  agriculture  could  count 
on  a  twenty-five  fold  produce  and  a  double  harvest,  without 
an  ardent  wish  that  the  cities  should  be  peopled,  and  the 
land  be  cultivated,  and  be  filled  with  virtuous,  peaceful,  and 
happy  men.  Such  hopes  might  be  blasted  by  the  sight  not 
only  of  the  apathy  and  ignorance  of  the  Turks,  but  of  all  that 
is  now  seen  in  the  land,  where  the  moral  debasement  is  akin 
to  the  physical ;  so  that  the  resuscitation  of  the  Haouran  and 
its  kindred  territories,  judging  from  sight,  might  well  seem 
to  be  a  dream. 

The  ruler  of  Turkey — the  wo-bearing  mission  of  whose 
race  was  not  the  renovation  of  any  land,  but  the  destruction 
of  many — has  neither  the  wisdom  nor  the  powder  to  give 

*  Buckingham’s  Travels  among  the  Arab  Tribes,  p.  227-229. 


284  NATURAL  FERTILITY  OF  THE  COUNTRIES 

new  life  to  any  portion  of  his  expiring  empire  ;  but  were  | 
he  to  transplant,  if  he  could,  another  alien  race  to  these  | 
once  teeming  regions,  what  fate  could  await  them  but  that  i 
of  all  the  uncircumcised  ^  uncovenanted  races,  whether  in  1 
ancient  or  in  more  modern  times,  who  have  heretofore  oc¬ 
cupied  the  land.  The  Grand  Turk  has  shrunk  into  a  little 
man,  and  seems  for  the  completion  of  his  destiny  to  have 
little  more  to  do  than  to  pass  through  a  last  and  dying  strug¬ 
gle.  Alone  in  all  the  earth  there  are  towns  in  his  domin¬ 
ions,  chiefly  in  this  region,  without  men  to  fill  them.  The 
prophetic  symbol  of  his  empire  bears  its  legible  interpreta¬ 
tion  now.  The  Euphrates  is  drying  up,  that  the  way  of  the 
kings  of  the  East  may  be  prepared  ;  and  the  very  inability 
of  the  sultan  to  preserve  or  retain  his  dominions,  is  an  argu¬ 
ment,  deducing  its  conclusiveness,  as  its  origin,  from  Scrip¬ 
ture,  that  that  time  draweth  nigh. 

The  believer,  looking  with  the  eye  of  faith,  can  survey 
“  the  great  desert,”  which  lies  within  the  patrimony  of  Abra¬ 
ham’s  seed,  as  the  covenanted  gift  of  Abraham’s  God,  and, 
anticipating  in  sure  hope  the  glorious  day  of  Israel’s  redemp¬ 
tion  and  final  restoration,  can  see  nothing  but  beauty  with¬ 
out  a  trace  of  desolation  there,  where,  looked  on  as  it  is, 
nothing  else  can  be  seen.  The  happiness  shall  then  be 
such  that  it  shall  indeed  seem  like  a  dream.  “  When  the 
Lord  turneth  again  the  captivity  of  Zion,  we  were  like  them 
that  dream  ;  then  was  our  mouth  filled  with  laughter,  and 
our  tongue  with  singing  :  then  said  they  among  the  heathen, 
the  Lord  hath  done  great  things  for  them.  The  Lord  hath 
done  great  things  for  us,  whereof  we  are  glad.  Turn  again 
our  captivity,  0  Lord,  as  the  streams\of  the  south.”*  That 
word  which  has  turned  defenced  cities  into  ruinous  heaps, 
has  power,  when  varied  from  a  curse  to  a  blessing,  to  re¬ 
store  the  cities  to  dwell  in,  and  to  transform  the  wilderness 
into  a  fruitful  field. 

The  cities  and  the  lands  of  Gilead  and  Bashan,  as  well 
as  those  of  Moab  and  Ammon,  were  long  hid  from  the 
world,  till  in  these  latter  days  they  rise  into  view,  not 
only  showing  that  every  word  of  God  that  had  gone  forth 
against  them  is  at  last  perfect  work,  but  witnessing  too, 
as  their  testimony  may  now  be  heard,  that  they  are  all 
nearly,  if  not  altogether,  ready  for  the  accomplishment  of 
other  predictions.  Had  they  been  known  in  past  centu- 

*  Psalm  cxxvi.,  1-5. 


EAST  OF  THE  DEAH  SEA  AND  OF  THE  JORDAN.  285 

ries  as  in  the  present  day,  before  the  judgments  had  come 
upon  them  to  the  uttermost,  men  might  have  sought  to  qual¬ 
ify  a  prophecy  if  not  wholly  accomplished  ;  or  even,  as  was 
the  practice  in  earlier  ages,  they  might  have  renounced  the 
literal  interpretation,  and  wrested  the  Scriptures  into  some 
imaginary  significancy,  while  the  time  was  not  come  for  the 
word  itself  to  speak,  or  for  the  very  things  to  be  seen  which 
the  prophets  had  declared.  And  even  if  these  cities  and 
regions  had  been  opened  to  European  research  long  after 
the  days  of  Abulfeda,  much  testimony  would  have  been 
wanting  then  which  is  most  abundant  now,  and  men  would 
either  not  have  known  the  sign  which  the  Lord  had  set  up 
to  mark  the  time  when  Israel’s  blindness  should  speedily 
cease,  or  else  they  might  have  looked  on  the  prospective 
abandonment  and  desertion  of  so  many  cities  of  the  land  as 
a  dream  never  to  be  realized,  or  only  to  be  thought  of  as  a 
reality  when  a  new  age  of  wonders  should  arise. 

When  they  shall  see  these  things,  they  shall  know  that  I  am 
the  Lord.  When  the  time  was  come  that  the  predicted  des¬ 
olations  were  complete,  or  in  the  course  of  rapid  completion, 
these  things  were  seen  ;  the  whole  scene  was  disclosed  to 
view  ;  and  many  ran  to  and  fro,  where  none  before  had  trav¬ 
elled.  In  this,  as  in  numberless  instances  besides,  knowl¬ 
edge  was  iiicreased.  Facts  were  brought  to  light  by  which 
the  verity  of  God’s  word  was  seen.  Cities  and  plains, 
mountains  and  valleys,  vied  with  each  other  in  declaring  it. 
Babylon,  whose  site  was  scarcely  known,  vied  with  Petra, 
which  had  been  sought  for  in  vain  ;  and  Chaldea  with  Edom, 
and  Ammon  with  Moab.  Palestine  showed  itself  full  of 
judgments  as  it  once  was  of  mercies ;  the  land  of  Israel’s 
ancient  possession  was  studded  with  testimonies  ;  and  the 
completion  of  manifold  judgments  showed  that  the  cup  of 
the  Lord’s  wrath  had  gone  round  among  all  the  nations  to 
whom  by  name  He  sent  it. 

But  the  completion  of  on^  series  of  prophetic  judgments, 
true  to  the  very  letter,  prepares  the  way  for  the  completion . 
of  another  series  of  a  ditferent  order.  There  is  not  only  a 
growing  evidence,  or,  as  Bacon  calls  it,  a  germinating  ful¬ 
filment  of  prophecy,  but  that  germinating  process  may  be 
even  seen.  While  some  have  borne  their  ripened  fruit, 
others  may  be  looked  on  in  the  bud.  As  in  the  land  of  Is¬ 
rael,  the  gathering  of  the  harvest  maybe  the  preparation  for 
the  sower  ;  so  the  judgments  that  have  come  upon  the  land, 


286  NATURAL  FERTILITY  OF  THE  COUNTRIES 

though  Others  yet  intervene,  prepare  the  way  for  the  bless- 
injis  that  are  to  follow  after.  Cities  there  are  without  in- 
habitants  and  without  claimants  ;  houses  there  are,  number¬ 
ed  by  hundreds  in  single  localities,  without  man,  open  to  any 
casual  visitants'  that  may  choose  to  enter  them.  Over  a 
large  portion  of  Israel’s  inheritance,  the  rights  of  property 
in  houses  or  in  lands  are  altogether  unknown  ;  the  right  of 
possession  is  never  challenged,  and  need  not  be  contested 
where  there  are  empty  dwellings  ready  for  occupation,  and 
fertile  plains  that  cry  in  vain  for  cultivators.  The  wander¬ 
ing  Arabs  cause  the  inhahitants  to  wander.  The  government, 
to  whom  alone  all  property  in  the  land  belongs,  has  no  power 
to  protect  it ;  and  the  cities  and  the  land,  with  none  that  can 
keep  the  one  or  cultivate  the  other,  are  without  possessors,  as 
if  they  pertained  to  a  people  that  are  no  longer  there.  All 
other  bonds  are  broken,  all  other  claims  disannulled,  but  that 
of  Israel’s  everlasting  covenant.  The  time  is  come  when 
there  is  room  for  a  million  of  human  beings  to  form  a  new 
colony  in  the  country  beyond  Jordan  which  was  formerly 
partitioned  among  two  tribes  and  a  half  of  Israel ;  and  while 
the  wandering  tribes  that  traverse  the  land,  and  move  inces¬ 
santly  from  place  to  place,  as  if  sojourners  in  a  land  that  is 
not  theirs,  and  dwelling  in  tents  amid  cities  in  which  no 
man  dwells,  the  wanderers  throughout  the  world  who  can 
call  no  other  region  theirs,  are  numbered  by  millions,  and 
one  of  the  fondest  schemes  of  the  Jewish  mind,  not  without 
recent  attempts  to  realize  it,  is  that  of  colonizing  th^  land  of 
their  fathers. 

This  extensive  region  beyond  Jordan,  newly  restored  to 
the  notice  of  the  w'orld,  begins  to  be  appreciated,  and  signs 
there  are  that  the  time  may  not  be  distant  that  it  shall  also 
be  appropriated  by  the  people  to  whom  the  Lord  had  given 
it.  Who  that  can  relish  the  beauties  of  nature,  or  value  its 
bounties,  could  look  on  the  lovely  mountains  of  Gilead,  and 
the  rich  plains  of  the  Haourai^  even  though  they  did  not 
‘bear  a  single  consecrated  name,  without  a  wish  that  the 
blessedness  of  such  lands  bore  some  similitude  to  their  fer¬ 
tility  and  beauty  ?  And  who  that  has  the  faith  of  Abraham, 
and  mourns  over  the  miseries  of  his  expatriated  race,  does 
not  wistfully  look  for  the  time  when  the  captivity  of  Israel 
shall  be  brought  back  ;  when  Dan,  ere  his  own  allotment 
be  fixed  in  another  portion  of  the  land  as  rich  and  lovely, 
shall  leap  from  Bashan,  and  Benjamin  shall  possess  Gilead  ? 


EAST  OF  THE  DEAD  SEA  AND  OF  THE  JORDAN.  287 

These  lands  retain  such  inherent  richness  and  such  natural 
beauty  still  undefaced  by  man.  that  they  are  worthy  of  being 
claimed  by  the  Lord  of  the  whole  earth  as  his  own.  And 
God  hath  spoken  in  his  holiness,  “  Gilead  is  mine,  and  Ma- 
nasseh  is  mine.”*  He  has  reserved  them  still  for  his  peo¬ 
ple  Israel,  notwithstanding  their  past  unfaithfulness  in  his 
covenant ;  and  although  He  has  turned  human  instrument¬ 
ality  to  the  execution  of  his  judgments,  he  has  so  wrought 
out  his  purposes,  and  still  kept  his  covenant  in  view,  that  of 
all  lands  these  are  the  most  inviting  for  a  colony,  and  the 
most  free  for  immediate  occupancy  ;  so  that,  as  is  stated,  a 
million  of  men  might  take  possession  of  them  at  once,  not 
to  the  detriment,  but  to  the  gain  of  all  the  regions  around. 
Where  or  when,  with  even  the  semblance  of  truth,  could 
this  be  said  of  any  other  country  1  or  what  land  besides, 
throughout  all  the  earth,  holds  forth  to  myriads  of  immediate 
settlers  such  temptations  of  unappropriated  lands,  of  unoc¬ 
cupied  cities,  of  empty  but  habitable  houses,  of  numberless 
fountains,  of  rich  and  beauteous  mountains,  and  of  fertile 
plains  covered  with  luxuriant  pasturage  ready  for  immedi¬ 
ate  tillage  ?  The  hand  of  the  Lord  God  of  Israel  is  assu¬ 
redly  in  all  this.  It  is  the  Lord’s  doing,  and  it  is  marvel¬ 
lous  in  our  eyes  ;  and,  showing  forth  his  faithfulness,  it  is 
a  token,  could  any  be  needed,  that  He  loves  Israel  still,  and 
has  his  people  in  remembrance,  and  will  not  suffer  his  prom¬ 
ises  to  fail.  Who  is  the  Lord  but  our  God  ?  Hath  He 
said,  and  shall  He  not  do  it  ?  Has  He  not,  according  to  his 
Word,  made  this  whole  land  what  it  is,  whether  as  respects 
the  cities  and  houses  that  have  cast  out  their  inhabitants, 
and  the  men  to  whom  He  has  not  given  them  in  possession, 
or  the  uncultivated  plains  which  have  passed  under  his  sen¬ 
tence  of  desolation,  and  yet  retain  their  substance  ?  And  as 
surely  as  Gilead  is  the  Lord’s  and  Manasseh  is  His,  has  He 
not  reserved  them,  and  made  them  ready,  whenever  the  peo¬ 
ple  of  his  covenant  shall  be  turned  to  him  again,  for  the  ac¬ 
complishment  of  his  Word  which  we  delight  to  repeat,  “  I 
will  bring  Israel  again  to  his  habitation,  and  he  shall  feed 
on  Carmel  and  Bashan,  and  his  soul  shall  be  satisfied  upon 
Mount  Ephraim  and  Gilead.”!  “  Let  them  feed  in  Bashan 
and  Gilead  as  in  the  days  of  old.  According  to  the  days 
of  thy  coming  out  of  the  land  of  Egypt  will  I  show  unto  him 
marvellous  things.  He  will  turn  again,  He  will  have  com- 
*  Patelm  Ixt,  t  Jer.,  1.,  10, 


288 


RUINS  OF  CITIES  IN  JUDEA,  ETC. 


passion  upon  us.  Thou  wilt  perform  the  truth  to  Jacob,  and 
the  mercy  to  Abraham,  which  thou  hast  sworn  unto  our 
fathers  from  the  days  of  old.”*  It  has  been  said  that  these 
lands  may  suffice  for  the  occupancy  of  a  million  of  men. 
Israel  is  still  numbered  by  millions,  but  the  tribes  of  Israel 
shall  not  always  bear  the  name  of  outcast,  and  many  shall 
yet  be  added  to  those  that  are  now  known.  Gilead  alone, 
even  with  all  its  surrounding  regions,  is  not  a  land  too  rich 
or  large  for  the  thousands  of  Israel  that  shall  yet  be  assem¬ 
bled  there ;  for  saith  the  Lord,  “  I  will  bring  them  into  the 
land  of  Gilead  and  Lebanon,  and  place  shall  not  be  found 
for  them.”! 


CHAPTER  X. 

RUINS  OF  CITIES  IN  JUDEA,  ETC. 

There  is  a  contrast  strikingly  reversed,  as  drawn  by  Jo¬ 
sephus  and  every  modern  traveller,  between  the  region  on 
the  west  and  the  east  of  the  Jordan.  Prior  to  the  Jewish 
war,  which  terminated  in  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem,  the 
region  beyond  the  Jordan  was  partly  desert,  and  was  es¬ 
teemed  less  fertile  than  Judea  ;  while  the  latter  country  was 
universally  cultivated  and  full  of  cities,  and  while  Samaria 
and  Judea  were  not  only  everywhere  clothed  with  fruitful 
trees,  but  were  also  so  exceedingly  populous,  that  two  pro¬ 
vincial  towns  in  the  plain  of  Judah  could  send  forth  thirty 
thousand  armed  men.  But,  while  some  portion  of  the  an¬ 
cient  glory  of  Gilead  still  lingers  there,  that  of  Judea  has 
departed,  its  mountains  are  desolate,  and  its  cities  have 
fallen,  though  not,  like  those  of  Edom,  forever. 

The  prophetic  Scriptures  could  in  two  words  characterize 
for  many  ages  the  separate  fate  of  all  the  tribes  in  distin¬ 
guishing  the  dispersed  of  Judah  from  the  outcasts  of  Israel. 
In  like  manner,  while  the  cities  of  Israel  beyond  the  Jordan 
have  been  either  ruined  or  deserted,  many  of  them  being 
dispeopled  though  not  destroyed,  the  word  of  the  prophet 
now  teaches  us,  in  passing  the  Jordan,  to  look  for  the  de¬ 
cayed  places  of  Judah.  This  one  word  thus  sets  them  be¬ 
fore  the  reader  as  they  are.  Among  them  we  are  not  to 

*  Micali,  vii.,  14,  15,  19,  20.  t  Zech.,  x.,  10, 


RUINS  OF  CITIES  IN  JUDEA,  ETC.-  289 

look  for  “  indestructible  towns  nor  do  they,  in  this  respect, 
show  us  anew  cities  still  existing,  though  without  inhabi¬ 
tant,  or  houses  still  standing,  though  without  man.  Judea 
has  been  the  scene  of  sieges  and  of  contests  which  have 
laid  most  of  its  cities  even  with  the  ground  ;  and  it  has  not, 
therefore,  such  conspicuous  ruins,  and  such  forsaken,  though 
not  fallen  cities,  as  those  with  w^hich  the  Haouran  is  cov¬ 
ered,  unlike  to  any  other  land  on  earth.  But  deserted  vil¬ 
lages  and  ancient  towns  utterly  abandoned,  the  region  on 
the  west  of  Jordan  can  also  show  ;  and  built  up  again  as  its 
cities  shall  be,  we  may  warrantably  look  there  also,  as 
throughout  all  the  land,  for  the  ready  materials  of  a  speedy 
reconstruction,  and  see  if  over  that  land  too  there  be,  as  in 
the  ruined  towns  beyond  the  Jordan,  hewn  stones  in  abun¬ 
dance  where  cities  stood,  waiting  for  the  time  when  the 
hands  of  strangers  shall  luild  up  the  walls  that  there  have 
fallen,  and  when  it  shall  be  said  to  the  cities  of  Judah,  Be¬ 
hold  your  King. 

A  more  summary  view  may  here  suffice,  as  decayed  cities 
have  less  to  tell. 

Jesus  preached  the  Gospel  from  city  to  city  throughout 
the  lands  of  Galilee  and  Judea.  He  sent  forth  his  apostles 
and  seventy  disciples  to  declare  throughout  them  all  that 
the  kingdom  of  God  was  come  nigh  unto  them.  They 
preached  in  vain.  But  not  in  vain  did  they  shake  off  the 
dust  of  their  feet  as  a  testimony  against  them.  Not  Chora- 
zin  and  Bethsaida  alone,  but  many  others  besides,  sharing 
in  the  sin  of  not  believing  in  Jesus,  have  shared  the  same 
fate.  Though  they  were  exalted  unto  heaven,  and  rivalled 
each  other  in  their  greatness,  and  the  boast  could  be  made 
of  them  that  they  were  excelled  by  none,  yet  their  pride, 
their  impenitence,  and  unbelief,  have  brought  them  down  to 
hell,  to  death,  or  to  the  grave  ;  and  they  exist  not  now  even 
as  uninhabited  cities,  but  lie  as  low  in  their  ruin  as  they 
were  exalted  in  their  pride. 

Immediately  before  judgment  came  upon  them  after  the 
crucifixion  of  Jesus,  the  country  beyond  Jordan  was  marked 
by  its  inferiority  to  that  on  its  western  side.  Now  the  con¬ 
trast  is  reversed  ;  and  marking  this  apparently  strange  diver¬ 
sity  or  reversal  of  the  relative  richness  now,  it  may  not  be 
meet,  while  in  the  midst  of  a  land  that  everywhere  bears 
marks  of  moral  retribution,  to  overlook  the  fact,  that  when 
Jesus,  shortly  before  his  crucifixion,  went  beyond  Jordan, 

H  B 


290 


RUINS  OF  CITIES  IN  JUDEA,  ETC. 


when  in  Jewry  they  sought  to  kill  him,  many  believed  on 
him  there,  while  the  cities  of  Judah  rejected  him,  and  he  was 
crucified  beyond  the  walls  of  Jerusalem.  Gilead,  though 
blighted,  is  still  glorious  in  its  beauty,  while  the  mountains, 
and  plains,  and  cities  of  Judah,  like  the  places  around  Je¬ 
rusalem,  are  utterly  waste,  and  the  very  land  that  would  not 
hear  the  messenger  of  the  Lord,  but  slew  the  Lord  of  glory, 
has  been  smitten  with  a  heavy  curse. 

The  ruined  cities  of  the  Haouran  cannot  be  passed  un¬ 
seen  ;  and  even  when,  like  Kanouat,  they  are  hid  by  trees 
or  fallen  minarets,  columns  or  towers  tell  where  they  lie. 
But  razed  yrom  their  foundations  (funditus  eversi)  as  the  for¬ 
tresses,  towns,  and  villages  of  the  Jews  were,  on  their  final 
extirpation  from  Judea  by  the  Emperor  Adrian,  the  triers, 
and  thorns,  and  thistles,  and  rank  weeds  that  have  come  upon 
the  land,  suffice  to  obliterate  the  vestiges  of  cities  which  lack 
the  memorial  of  a  solitary  wall.  Ruinous  heaps  overgrown 
with  herbage  are  often  undistinguishable  from  the  ground ; 
and  while  the  traveller  from  a  far  land  looks  in  vain  all  around 
for  the  fragment  of  a  ruin  as  the  vestige  of  a  city,  where  they 
once  were  as  numerous  as  on  the  other  side  of  the  Jordan, 
some  broken  ground,  far  rougher  than  the  rest,  may  fix  his 
wandering  eye  on  a  place  of  safety  for  his  horse’s  hoofs, 
and  the  sight  may  teach  him  that  he  looked  not  low  enough, 
and  that  cities  of  Judah  are  still  trodden  down  of  the  Gen¬ 
tiles,  and  seldom  meet  the  view,  except  where  the  ruins  of 
churches  indicate  a  later  judgment. 

About  thirty  miles  directly  south  of  Gaza,  as  discovered 
and  described  by  Dr.  Robinson  and  Mr.  Smith,  the  ruins  of 
Abdeh  are  doubtless  the  remains  of  Ehoda,  simply  mention¬ 
ed  by  Ptolemy.  The  ruins  of  some  walls,  once  enclosures 
of  fields  and  gardens,  and  of  others  built  across  the  water¬ 
course,  to  regulate  the  once  fertilizing  stream ;  the  ruins  of 
a  square  tower  of  hewn  stone  ;  the  foundations  of  houses  ; 
and  many  hewn  stones  and  fragments  of  pottery  strewn 
around,  at  the  distance  of  half  a  mile  from  the  chief  ruins 
and  near  to  an  excavated  quarry,  forming  a  deep  cavern  sup¬ 
ported  by  pillars,  the  resort  of  multitudes  of  pigeons,  are 
now  the  approaches  to  the  ruined  Ehoda.  The  southern 
base  and  slope  of  the  hill  on  which  the  city  stood  were  cov¬ 
ered  with  the  ruins  of  buildings  of  hewn  stone.  The  prin¬ 
cipal  ruins  on  the  top  of  the  hill  are  those  of  a  Greek  church 
and  fortress,  the  latter  having  proved  unable  to  save  an 


RUINS  OF  CITIES  IN  JUDEA,  ETC. 


291 


idolatrous  temple  or  itself  from  destruction.  The  church  is 
about  one  hundred  and  twenty  feet  in  length,  and  of  propor¬ 
tional  breadth.  The  walls  are  still  in  great  part  standing, 
built  of  hewn  stone,  apparently  from  the  neighbouring  quar¬ 
ry,  and  of  good  workmanship.  The  arched  recess,  or  place 
of  the  altar,  was  yet  visible,  with  a  similar  recess  on  each 
side,  quite  entire.  In  the  western  part  was  a  side  chapel, 
with  two  or  three  smaller  rooms.  The  space  within  the 
walls  was  strewn  with  broken  columns  and  entablatures. 
The  castle  or  fortress,  built  of  hewn  stone,  was  more  than 
four  hundred  feet  in  length,  had  a  fine  arched  portal,  a  very 
deep  cistern  and  well  about  one  hundred  feet  deep,  sixty  of 
which  were  sunk  in  the  solid  rock,  while  the  top,  for  about 
forty  feet,  is  walled  up  with  hewn  stones  in  an  uncommonly 
good  style  of  masonry.  On  the  opposite  side  of  the  town 
are  also  ruins  of  buildings  and  walls  of  fields.*  “  The  race,” 
says  Dr.  Robinson,  “  that  dwelt  here  have  perished,  and  their 
works  now  look  abroad  in  loneliness  and  silence  over  the 
mighty  waste.”  But  they  shall  not  so  look  forever. 

The  ruins  of  Ruhaibeh,  of  which  the  anciefit  name  is  un¬ 
known,  and  of  Elusa,  mentioned  by  Ptolemy,  lie  in  a  line 
between  Eboda  and  Beersheba.  The  former,  which  the 
same  travellers  “  stumbled  on  by  accident,”!  consists  of  con¬ 
fused  heaps  of  stones,  which  entirely  and  thickly  cover  a 
level  track  of  ten  or  twelve  acres  in  extent ,  one  large  mass 
of  stones  appears  to  be  the  remains  of  a  church,  from  the 
broken  columns  and  fragments  strewed  around.  Once,  as 
they  judged  upon  the  spot,  this  must  have  been  a  city  of  not 
less  than  12,000  or  15,000  inhabitants ;  now  it  is  a  perfect 
field  of  ruins,  a  scene  of  unutterable  desolation.  The  ruins 
of  Elusa,  which  was  once  an  episcopal  city,  cover  a  some¬ 
what  larger  space,  with  room  enough  for  a  population  of 
15,000  or  20,000  souls.!  The  city  is  more  decayed  than 
that  of  Ruliaibeh.  At  Beersheba,  the  low  hills  north  of  the 
wells  are  covered  with  ruins  of  former  habitations  spread 
over  a  space  half  a  mile  in  length. § 

At  the  village  of  Dhoheriyeh,  itself  being  in  ruins,  and  an 
assemblage  of  stone  hovels,  the  remains  of  a  square  tower 
denote  the  site  of  a  castle  or  fortress,  “  that  would  seem  to 
have  been  one  of  the  small  fortresses  which  once  apparent, 
ly  existed  all  along  the  southern  border  of  Palestine. ”|I 

*  Smith  and  Robinson,  vol.  i.,  p.  285-287.  t  Ibid.,  p.  290, 

i  Ibid.,  p.  297.  0  Ibid.,  p.  301.  II  Ibid.,  p.  311. 


292 


RUINS  OF  CITIES  IN  JUDEA,  ETC. 


The  ruins  of  Kiirmul,  Carmel  of  Judah,  lie  around  the 
head  and  along  the  two  sides  of  a  valley  of  some  width  and 
depth.  The  main  ruins  consist  chiefly  of  the  foundations 
and  broken  walls  of  dwellings  and  other  edifices  scattered 
in  every  direction,  and  thrown  together  in  mournful  confu¬ 
sion  and  desolation.  The  castle  is  still  a  remarkable  ruin, 
its  walls  nearly  ten  feet  thick,  the  stones  bevelled,  and,  though 
the  upper  arch  is  gone,  the  remaining  height  is  about  thirty 
feet.  Near  it  are  the  foundations  of  a  round  tower  and  of  a 
small  church.  The  remains  of  a  large  church  stand  apart 
from  other  ruins  ;  the  whole  length  of  the  foundations  is  156 
feet,  the  building  having  consisted  apparently  of  two  parts. 
At  about  the  distance  of  half  a  mile  are  the  ruins  of  another 
large  church.* 

The  ruins  of  Tekoa,  on  the  top  of  a  hill,  consist  chiefly  of 
the  foundations  of  houses  built  of  squared  stones,  some  of 
which  are  bevelled,  the  ruins  of  a  Greek  church,  and  of  a 
large  castle.  On  another  summit  near  them,  as  seen  by 
Pococke,  were  the  ruins  of  a  large  church,  dedicated,  as  he 
states,  to  St.C^antalione.f  They  cover  a  considerable  ex¬ 
tent. J 

The  ruins  of  Beit-Jibrin,  also  first  discovered  and  descri¬ 
bed  by  Dr.  Robinson  and  Mr.  Smith,  and  identified  by  them 
with  the  ancient  Eleutheropolis,  consist  of  the  remains  of  a 
fortress  of  immense  strength,  in  the  midst  of  an  irregular 
rounded  enclosure,  encompassed  by  a  very  ancient  and 
strong  wall,  formed  of  large  squared  stones  uncemented, 
along  which  is  a  row  of  ancient  massive  vaults,  with  five 
rounded  arches.  These  are  now  covered  by  the  accumu¬ 
lated  rubbish,  yet  some  of  them  still  serve  as  dwellings  for 
the  inhabitants.  The  northern  wall  of  this  exterior  enclo¬ 
sure,  representing  the  diameter  from  east  to  west,  measured 
600  feet,  and  the  other  diameter  cannot  be  much  less.  It 
is  doubtless  of  Roman  origin.  In  the  midst  of  this  area 
stands  an  irregular  castle.  The  gate  was  shut  up,  and  the 
court  within,  where  not  covered  with  stone  and  rubbish, 
was  planted  with  tobacco.  The  interior  of  the  castle  was 
full  of  arches  and  vaults  ;  and  the  people  told  us  of  a  church 
with  pictures  in  the  southern  part,  now  shut  up,  and,  indeed, 
buried  beneath  the  ruins.  The  area  of  the  enclosure  out¬ 
side  of  the  castle  is  partly  occupied  by  the  materials  of  an- 

*  Robinson  and  Smith,  vol.  ii.,  p.  196-198. 

t  Ibid.,  p.  182.  Pococke,  p.  4i.  .  t  Irby  and  Mangles,  p.  341. 


RUINS  OF  CITIES  IN  JUDEA,  ETC. 


293 


cient  walls  and  structures.  The  ancient  town  appears  to 
have  extended  for  some  distance  along  the  open  valley  to¬ 
wards  the  northeast.  About  a  mile  from  the  village  are  the 
ruins  of  an  ancient  church,  bearing  the  name  of  St.  Ann. 
Of  the  church  only  the  eastern  end  is  standing,  including 
the  niches  of  the  great  altar  and  that  of  a  side  chapel,  built 
of  large  stones  of  strong  and  beautiful  masonry.*  “  The 
ruins,”  says  Dr.  Robinson,  “  are  sufficiently  important  to 
warrant  the  conclusion  that  they  are  those  of  Eleutheropolis 
— ruins  worthy  of  the  Roman  name  and  of  a  powerful  city.”t 

Ramlah  in  better  days  must  have  been  three  or  four  miles 
in  circumference.  “  Great  ruins  of  houses,”  which  a  cen¬ 
tury  ago  were  conspicuous  remnants  of  a  considerable  town, 
are  less  noticeable  now  ;  and  a  Greek  church,  then  used  as 
a  mosque,  is  now  a  “  beautiful  ruin.”  A  tower  standing  in 
the  midst  of  a  large  quadrangular  enclosure  is  ascended  by 
a  flight  of  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  stone  steps, J  but  has 
failed  to  defend  the  monastery  to  which  it  was  attached. 

The  celebrated  church  of  St.  George  at  Ludd  is  still  a 
noble  ruin.  The  edifice  was  of  hewn  stone  both  within  and 
without,  and  of  excellent  masonry.  The  stones  in  the  mod¬ 
ern  buildings  of  the  poor  villages  show  that  it  had  been  a 
place  of  some  consequence. § 

The  region  eastward  of  Gaza  is  called  the  country  of 
Hasy,  and  is  filled  with  deserted  sites  and  ruined  villages, 
not  one  of  them  being  inhabited. |1  West  of  Hebron,  many 
of  the  hills  are  marked  by  ruins,  showing  that  this  tract  of 
country  was  once  thickly  inhabited.^!  In  the  hill-country 
of  Judea,  on  the  way  from  Jerusalem  to  Gaza,  most  of  the 
villages  are  deserted  or  in  ruins.  The  country  is  full  of  the 
sites  of  ruins  and  villages,  some  inhabited  and  some  de¬ 
serted,  at  least  for  portions  of  the  year.** 

Ram,  the  ancient  Ramah  of  Benjamin,  is  a  miserable  vil¬ 
lage  with  few  houses,  and  these  now  in  summer  mostly  de¬ 
serted.  There  are  here  large  squared  stones,  and  also  col¬ 
umns  scattered  about  the  fields,  indicating  an  ancient  place 
of  some  importance.ff 

The  houses  of  the  village  of  El  Jib  seemed  to  be  chiefly 
rooms  in  old  massive  ruins,  which  have  fallen  down  in  ev¬ 
ery  direction.  One  large  massive  building  still  remains, 


*  Robinson  and  Smith,  vol.  ii.,  p.  355-357. 
t  Pococke,  p.  4.  Mr.  Robinson,  vol.  i.,  p.  29. 
II  Robinson  and  Smith,  vol.  ii.,  p.  385. 

**  Ibid.,  vol.  ii.,  p.  338,  339. 

B  B  2 


t  Ibid.,  p.  359. 

§  Pococke,  p.  4. 

IF  Ibid.,  vol.  iii.,  p.  6. 
tt  Ibid.,  vol.  ii.,  p.  315. 


294  RUINS  OF  CITIES  IN  JUDEA,  ETC. 

perhaps  a  former  castle  or  tower  of  strength.  The  lower 
rooms  are  vaulted  with  round  arches  of  hewn  stone,  fitted  to¬ 
gether  with  great  exactness.  The  stones  outside  are  large, 
and  the  whole  appearance  is  that  of  antiquity.*  A  fine 
fountain  of  water,  in  a  cave  excavated  from  the  base  of  a 
high  rock,  forms  a  large  subterranean  reservoir ;  and  not 
far  below  it  are  the  remains  of  another,  about  100  feet  in  , 
length  by  100  in  breadth,  both  awaiting  their  time  to  quench 
the  thirst  of  Israelites  again,  when  they  shall  turn  from  the 
broken  cistern  of  their  own  righteousness,  that  can  hold  no 
water,  to  the  fountain  of  living  waters — the  righteousness, 
like  their  father  Abraham’s,  that  is  of  faith. 

When  the  Lord  discomfited  the  five  kings  of  the  Ammon¬ 
ites  before  Israel,  and  slew  them  with  a  great  slaughter  at 
Gibeon,  the  Israelites  chased  them  along  the  way  that  goeth 
to  Bethhoron.\  In  a  later  age,  both  the  cities  of  that  name 
were  numbered  with  Tadmor  and  Baalath,  among  those 
which  Solomon  built.  He  built  Bethhoron  the  upper  and 
Bethhoron  the  nether,  fenced  cities,  with  walls,  gates,  and 
bars.J  At  Beit-Urel-Tahta  (the  lower),  the  foundations  of 
large  stones  indicate  an  ancient  site  ;  and  at  Beit-Urel-Foka 
(the  upper),  situated  on  an  eminence  on  the  very  brow  of 
the  mountain,  the  small  village  exhibited  traces  of  ancient 
walls  and  foundations.  “  There  can  be  no  question,”  says 
Dr.  Robinson,  “  that  they  indicate  the  upper  and  nether 
Bethhoron  ;”§  and  though  once  fenced  cities,  with  their 
walls,  gates,  and  bars,  they  rank  now  with  those  which  shall 
be  raised  up  from  their  foundations. 

Samaria  lay  between  Judea  and  Galilee,  and  was  the 
chief  seat  of  the  tribes  of  Israel.  Prophecy,  as  the  writer 
has  elsewhere  shown,  detailed  its  history  as  now  it  may  be 
read,  and  marked  all  its  features  as  they  are  still  to  be  seen, 
and  disposed  of  all  its  stones,  whether  they  be  cast  down 
into  the  bottom  of  the  valley,  or  gathered  into  heaps  on  the 
summit  of  the  hill.  Its  foundations  have  been  discovered, 
but  they  shall  not  be  forever  bare.  The  Lord  shall  bring 
again  the  captivity  of  Samaria,  and  she  and  her  daughters 
shall  return  to  their  former  estate.^  Jesus  came  to  the  lost 
sheep  of  the  house  of  Israel  ;  and  his  disciples  entered  not 
into  the  cities  of  the  Samaritans,  who,  though  dwelling  in 
them,  were  aliens  from  the  commonwealth  of  Israel.  But 


*  Robinson  and  Smith,  vol.  136.  t  Josh.,  x.,  10.  t  2  Chron.,  viii.,  5. 
k  Robinson  and  Smith,  vol.  ii.,  p.  69,  60.  ||  Ezek.,  xvi.,  53,  55 


RUINS  OF  CITIES  IN  JUDEA,  ETC.  295 

the  voice  of  the  Lord  shall  be  heard  and  obeyed.  Turn 
again^  O  virgin  of  Israel,  turn  again  to  these  thy  cities* 
Though  hid  from  view  and  searched  for  in  vain,  this  word 
has  power  to  evoke  them  all  from  their  ruins.  Napolous, 
the  ancient  Sichar,  whose  inhabitants  came  out  to  see  and 
to  hear  Jesus,  and  many  of  whom  believed  on  him,  and  near 
to  which,  anciently  Shechem,  Abraham  first  pitched  his  tent 
in  the  land  of  Canaan,  is  the  only  surviving  city  standing 
between  Ebal  and  Gerizzim — the  mountains  from  which  the 
curses  and  the  blessings  were  respectively  pronounced — 
as  if  it  still  waited,  having  seen,  as  it  heard,  the  former,  to 
see  finally,  also,  the  full  realization  of  the  latter,  and  the 
completion  of  the  covenant  which  God  made  with  Abraham. 

The  ruins  of  Scythopolis  (Bysan,  Bethsan)  “  are  of  con¬ 
siderable  extent ;  and  the  town,  built  along  the  banks  of  a 
rivulet,  and  in  the  villages  formed  by  its  several  branches, 
must  have  been  nearly  three  miles  in  circuit.”!  But  some 
trace  has  been  left  of  the  luxury  of  which  that  archiepisco- 
pal  city  was  the  scene.  The  theatre  is  still  distinct ;  and 
in  it  alone,  throughout  their  extensive  travels.  Captains  Irby 
and  Mangles  saw  those  oval  recesses  for  brass  sounding 
tubes,  mentioned  by  Vitruvius,  which  even  in  his  day  very 
few  theatres  contained.  The  scene  is  now  changed,  and 
the  sounds  are  different.  In  one  of  the  dormitories  they 
found  twenty-four  sculls  and  other  bones  ;  and  in  one  of  the 
sculls  a  viper  was  basking,  with  his  body  twisted  between 
the  eyes,  presenting  a  good  subject  for  the  moralizer.j:  In 
regard  to  the  human  occupants  of  “  the  principal  city  of  the 
Decapolis,”  “  Bysan,”  says  Dr.  Richardson,  “  is  just  what 
a  nest  of  ruffians  might  be  expected  to  be,  a  collection  of 
the  most  miserable  hovels,  containing  about  200  inhabitants 
— the  veriest  miscreants  of  that  miscreant  quarter  of  the 
world.  I  never  in  my  life  saw  the  human  countenance  so 
bedevilled  as  in  the  fiend-like  looks  of  the  inhabitants  of 
Bysan. Such  now  are  its  inhabitants,  and  such  the  end 
of  Scythopolis.  The  land  is  yet  given  to  the  wicked  of  the 
earth  for  a  prey,  and  mourns  because  of  the  iniquity  of  those 
that  dwell  therein.  “  One  generation  of  vipers,”  in  human 
form,  has  succeeded  to  another,  till,  in  the  chief  scenes  of 
godless  pleasures,  whei:e  the  perfection  of  art  ministered 
to  the  gratification  of  the  senses,  vipers  literally  nestle  in 


*  Jer.,  xxxi.,  21. 
t  Irby  and  Mangles,  p.  302. 


t  Burckhardt,  p.  343. 

()  Dr.  Richardson,  ii.,  p.  421,  422. 


296 


RUINS  OF  CITIES  IN  JUDEA,  ETC. 


sculls.  ButBysan  shall  be  Bethsan  again.  Its  site  is  cov¬ 
ered  with  large  heaps  of  hewn  stones  ;  and  when  a  king 
shall  reign  in  righteousness,  they  shall  be  built  up  again, 
and  other  walls  shall  be  raised  in  the  place  of  those  which 
have  fallen,  and  on  which  the  victorious  Philistines  fastened 
the  dead  body  of  the  first  king  of  Israel,*  who  was  faithless 
in  the  covenant,  and  obeyed  not  the  command  of  the  Lord. 
The  prostrate  columns  of  Corinthian  architecture  may  then 
be  raised  in  memorial  of  the  evil  days  that  shall  have  passed 
away,  never  to  return. 

Tiberias,  previous  to  the  earthquake  of  1837,  was  fortified 
by  a  thick  and  well-built  wall,  twenty  feet  in  height,  with  a 
high  parapet,  and  flanked  by  twenty  round  towers  in  excel¬ 
lent  condition,  and  was  considered  as  a  place  almost  impreg¬ 
nable  to  Syrian  soldiers.f  To  the  south,  the  margin  of  the 
lake  is  covered  with  the  ruins  of  the  former  city.  Heaps 
of  stones,  and  some  ruined  walls  and  foundations  of  houses, 
a  few  columns,  the  ruins  of  a  large,  thick  wall  or  mole,  with 
a  few  columns  of  gray  granite  lying  in  the  sea,  and  midway 
between  the  town  and  the  hot  baths,  where  the  springs  flow  as 
copiously  and  as  warm  as  ever,  one  prostrate  column  of  gray 
granite,  and  the  fragments  of  a  column  of  red  Egyptian  gran¬ 
ite,  are  the  only  remains  of  antiquity  exposed  to  the  view  of 
the  passing  traveller  in  traversing  the  ruins  of  the  ancient 
city  5  other  columns,  as  conjectured  by  Burckhardt,  proba¬ 
bly  lie  on  the  surface,  hid  among  the  high  grass  with  which 
the  plain  is  covered.|  Besides  these  ruins,  which  stretch 
half  an  hour  along  the  seashore,  and  extend  about  three  hun¬ 
dred  yards  inland,  there  are  other  remains  of  ancient  habi¬ 
tations  on  the  north  side  of  the  hill,  and  some  thick  walls, 
the  remnant  of  ancient  fortifications.  The  ruins  of  the  mod¬ 
ern  city  may  now  be  added  to  those  of  the  old.  “  The  pros¬ 
trate  walls  of  the  town  now  present  little  more  than  heaps 
of  ruins ;  and  not  a  finger,”  says  Dr.  Robinson,  “  has  yet 
been  raised  to  build  them  up.  In  some  places  they  are  still 
standing,  though  with  breaches  ;  but  from  every  quarter  foot¬ 
steps  led  over  the  ruins  into  the  city.  The  castle  also  has 
suffered  greatly.  Very  many  of  the  houses  were  destroyed 
by  the  same  earthquake  which  prostrated  Saphet  and  Tyre; 
few  remained  without  injury.  Several  of  the  minarets  were 
thrown  down,  but  a  slender  one  of  wood  had  escaped.  We 
entered  the  town  directly  from  our  tent,  and  made  our  way 

*  I  Samuel,  xxxi.,  10.  t  Burckhardt,  p.  320,  321.  t  Ibid.,  p.  328,  323 


. . .  '  . 


. . 


■l.tl 


I 

,  .  .  iJT.Iili,  I.  "JP  '* 

f'SSvCi^-* , 


297 


RUINS  OF  CITIES  IN  JUDEA,  ETC. 

through  the  streets  in  the  midst  of  the  sad  desolation.”* 
(See  Plate.) 

The  castle  and  city  of  Saphed  were  long  a  stronghold  of 
the  Crusaders  ;  and  the  possession  of  it  by  the  Sultan  of 
Egypt,  when,  pressed  by  famine,  it  was  surrendered  by  the 
Templars,  gave  him  the  command  of  all  Galilee.  At  the 
instigation  of  Benedict,  bishop  of  Marseilles,  who  bequeath¬ 
ed  to  it  his  whole  fortune,  the  castle  was  rebuilt  by  the  Tem¬ 
plars.  In  the  beginning  of  last  century,  though  its  condi¬ 
tion  was  then  so  ruinous  that  its  ancient  figure  could  scarce¬ 
ly  be  determined,  the  multitude  of  ruins  and  the  extent  of  its 
circuit,  nearly  a,  mile  and  a  half,  gave  manifest  proof  that  it 
had  been  formerly  a  very  strong  fortification.  “  In  order  to 
form  some  idea  of  this  fortification  in  its  present  state,”  says 
Van  Egmont,  “  imagine  a  lofty  mountain,  and  on  its  summit 
a  round  castle  with  walls  of  an  incredible  thickness,  with  a 
corridor,  or  covered  passage,  extending  round  the  walls  and 
ascended  by  a  winding  staircase.  The  thickness  of  the 
wall  and  of  the  corridor  together  was  twenty  of  my  paces. 
The  whole  was  of  hewn  stone,  and  some  of  them  eight  or 
nine  spans  in  length.  The  castle  was  anciently  surrounded 
by  stupendous  works,  moats,  bulwarks,  towers,  &c.  The 
stones  of  a  large  structure  in  the  form  of  a  dome  are  of  as¬ 
tonishing  magnitude.  The  inside  is  full  of  niches,  near 
each  of  which  is  a  small  shell.  An  open  colonnade  sur¬ 
rounds  the  building,  and,  like  the  rest  of  the  structure,  is 
very  massive  and  compact.  From  the  top  of  the  dome  we 
had  the  finest  prospect  that  can  be  imagined,  extending  over 
the  city  of  Saphet,  and  the  numerous  circumjacent  villages 
and  hamlets,  and  the  adjoining  country,  which  is  everywhere 
well  cultivated.”!  When  visited  by  Burckhardt,  Saphed 
was  a  neatly-built  town.  The  castle  appeared  to  have  un¬ 
dergone  a  thorough  repair  in  the  course  of  the  last  century  ; 
it  had  a  good  wall,  and  was  surrounded  by  a  broad  ditch. 
The  town  was  surrounded  by  large  olive  plantations  and  vine¬ 
yards.  The  garrison  cultivated  a  part  of  the  neighbouring 
lands.!  But  here,  as  elsewhere,  the  fortress  has  ceased 
from  Ephraim.  The  same  earthquake  which  overthrew  Ti¬ 
berias,  levelled  Saphed  with  the  ground.  Syria  has  for 
many  ages  been  the  scene  of  desolations  wrought  by  the 
hands  of  man.  But  war  is  the  messenger  of  the  Lord,  and 

*  Robinson  and  Smith,  iii,,  p.  253,  254.  t  Burckhardt,  p.  317. 

t  Van  Egrnont  and  Heynian,  vol.  ii.,  p.  43-46. 


298 


RUINS  OF  CITIES  IN  JUDEA,  ETC. 


warriors  the  executioners  of  his  will.  Before  them,  as  hu¬ 
man  instruments,  bulwarks  may  stand  long  unshaken  by  all 
their  power.  But  when  the  Lord  speaks  the  earth  trembles, 
and  at  his  word  the  strongest  cities  and  castles,  deemed  im¬ 
pregnable,  fall  like  the  grass  before  the  scythe  of  the  mower. 
Often  has  the  word  of  the  Lord  passed  over  many  cities  in 
Syria,  and  sometimes  scarcely  one  has  escaped.  How  terri¬ 
ble  these  judgments  were  which  brought  the  cities  to  the  dust, 
and  made  the  defenced  city  a  ruin,  some  idea  may  be  formed 
from  the  description  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Thomson,  of  Beyrout, 
who  was  accompanied  by  Mr.  Caiman,  and  who,  in  Chris¬ 
tian  mercy,  visited  the  surviving  inhabitants  soon  after  the 
fearful  catastrophe.  “  All  anticipations  were  utterly  confound¬ 
ed  when  the  reality  burst  upqn  our  sight.  Up  to  this  mo¬ 
ment  I  had  refused  to  credit  the  accounts  ;  but  one  frightful 
glance  convinced  me  that  it  was  not  in  the  power  of  language 
to  overstate  such  a  ruin.  Suffice  it  to  say,  that  this  great 
town,  which  seemed  to  me  like  a  beehive  four  years  ago,  is 
now  no  more.  Saphed  was,  but  is  not.  The  Jewish  por¬ 
tion,  containing  a  population  of  five  or  six  thousand,  was 
built  round,  and  upon  a  very  steep  mountain  ;  so  steep,  in¬ 
deed,  is  the  hill,  and  so  compactly  built  was  the  town,  that 
the  roofs  of  the  lower  houses  formed  the  streets  of  the  ones 
above,  thus  rising  like  a  stairway  one  above  another ;  and 
thus,  when  the  tremendous  shock  dashed  every  house  to  the 
ground,  the  first  fell  upon  the  second,  the  second  upon  the 
third,  that  upon  the  next,  and  so  on  to  the  end ;  and  this  is 
the  true  cause  of  the  almost  unprecedented  destruction  of 
life.  Some  of  the  lower  houses  are  covered  to  a  great  depth 
with  the  ruins  of  many  others  which  were  above  them.^ 
Most  of  the  houses  were  prostrated  in  a  few  moments  ;  thou¬ 
sands  of  the  inhabitants  of  Saphed  (chiefly  Jews)  were  bu¬ 
ried  beneath  the  ruins  ;  the  castle  was  utterly  thrown  down, 
and  the  lower  houses  were  covered  with  the  accumulated 
masses  of  ruins. f  Fallen  as  the  cities  of  Israel  are,  and 
raised  up  again  as  they  shall  be  according  to  the  same  Di¬ 
vine  word,  and  numerous  as  were  those  which  earthquakes 
prostrated  when  existing  in  their  prime,  Saphed  may  supply 
an  illustration  how  accumulated  ruins  are  storehouses  of 
hewn  stones,  all  ready  for  reconstruction. 

The  castle  of  Baneas,  so  famous  in  the  history  of  the  Crn- 

*  Robinson  and  Smith,  Appendix,  vol.  iii.,  p.  471-475. 

t  Narrative,  p.  366. 


RUINS  OF  CITIES  IN  JUDEA,  ETC. 


299 


saders,  is  now  “  in  complete  ruins,”  but  was  once  a  very 
strong  fortress.  Its  whole  circumference  is  twenty-five  min¬ 
utes  (or  upward  of  a  mile).  It  is  surrounded  by  a  wall  ten 
feet  thick,  flanked  with  numerous  round  towers,  built  with 
great  blocks  of  stone,  each  about  two  feet  square.  Within 
the  precincts  of  the  castle  are  ruins  of  many  private  habita¬ 
tions.  There  are  four  wells  in  the  castle,  one  more  than 
twenty  feet  square,  walled  in  with  a  vaulted  roof  at  least 
twenty-five  feet  high,  and  full  of  water  in  a  dry  season  at 
the  end  of  summer.  Over  the  source  of  the  River  Panias  is 
a  perpendicular  rock,  in  which  are  several  niches  ;  in  one, 
the  base  of  the  statue  is  still  visible.  Round  the  source  are 
a  number  of  hewn  stones.  There  is  a  well-built  bridge  near 
the  ruins  of  an  ancient  town,  which  extend  from  it  about  a 
mile.  No  walls  remain,  huX  great  quantities  of  stone  and  ar¬ 
chitectural  fragments  are  scattered  about.  Near  it  are  the 
ruins  of  another  s'trong  castle,  of  which  several  of  the  tow¬ 
ers  are  standing.  It  bears  the  date  of  600  and - years 

(of  the  Hedjira)^  or  of  the  thirteenth  century  so  long  after 
the  destruction  of  them  all  was  foretold,  were  fortresses  built 
in  the  land  of  Israel. 

The  ruins  of  Bostra  (not  Bozrah),  near  Baneas,  consist 
of  the  foundations  of  private  habitations,  built  of  moderately- 
sized  squared  stones.  In  the  upper  city  are  the  remnants  of 
several  buildings.  A  heap  of  hewn  stones  of  larger  dimen¬ 
sions  than  the  rest  indicates  the  site  of  some  public  build¬ 
ings.  The  circuit  of  one  division  of  the  town  is  rather  less, 
and  the  other  rather  more,  than  a  quarter  of  an  hour.f 

At  the  end  of  an  hour  and  a  half  from  Baneas,  Burckhardt 
reached  Ain  Hazouri,  about  an  hour  to  the  north  of  which 
are  “  the  ruins  of  a  city  called  HazourH'X — the  ancient  Ha-  • 
zor,  once  “  the  head  of  the  kingdoms'^  of  Canaan. §  But  the 
word  of  the  Lord,  in  after  ages,  went  forth  against  it,||  and 
it  has  been  desolate  for  many  generations.  Though  its  name 
is  retained  in  its  ruins,  they  have  not  hitherto  been  visited  or 
described.  Brochard,  who  marked  their  position,  eight 
leagues  from  Tyre  on  the  east,  corresponding  to  that  assigned 
them  by  the  renowned  modern  traveller  of  the  same  name, 
states  that  to  “  his  day  its  ruins  attested  the  ancient  magnifi¬ 
cence  of  the  city.”^ 

In  the  naturally  rich  region  which  surrounds  the  streams 

♦  Burckhardt,  p.  S6-41.  t  Ibid.,  p.  41.  t  Ibid.,  p.  44.  ^  Josh.,  li.,  Ifll 

II  Jer.,  xlix-,  33.  If  Brocard,  Orbis  Novus,  p.  262. 


300 


RUINS  OF  CITIES  IN  JUDEA,  ETC. 


which  flow  into  Lake  Houle,  the  waters  of  Merom,  towns 
were  numerous  in  ancient  times,  as  are  ruins  now.  The 
towns  of  Caesarea  Philippi*  into  which  Jesus  went,  were, 
but  are  not.  Some  of  the  friends  of  the  Sheik  of  Baneas 
enumerated  to  Burckhardt  the  names  of  seventeen  ruinsf  in 
the  neighbourhood  north  of  Baneas. 

Returning  to  the  seacoast,  having  previously  noticed  the 
ruins  of  Askelon,  we  may  look  for  the  ruins  of  other  cities 
along  the  shores  of  Syria. 

We  have  seen  how%  at  the  close  of  the  eleventh  century, 
Caesarea  for  a  time  withstood  the  crusading  armies,  and  on 
its  capture  enriched  them  all.  It  was  built  by  Herod  the 
Great,  in  honour  of  the  emperor  of  the  world,  and  was  a 
magnificent  city,  worthy  of  the  imperial  name  it  bore.  It 
was  adorned  with  most  splendid  palaces  and  stately  edi¬ 
fices,  built,  of  excellent  materials,  and  admirably  construct¬ 
ed.  “  The  city,”  says  Josephus,  “  was  built  of  white  stone, 
and  was  adorned  both  with  the  most  splendid  palaces  and 
private  dwellings.  But  its  greatest  and  most  laborious  struc¬ 
ture  w'as  a  harbour  perfectly  safe,  in  extent  equal  to  the  Pi- 
raeum  (at  Athens),  and  having  within  it  two  stations  for  ships. 
This  work  was  the  more  wonderful,  from  there  being  no  ma¬ 
terials  at  hand  for  its  construction,  which  had  to  be  brought 
from  a  distance,  and  at  great  expense. ”:j;  It  formed  one  of 
the  most  wonderful  works  of  antiquity,  built  as  it  was  of 
stones  fifty  feet  long,  eighteen  broad,  and  nine  in  depth, 
which  were  placed  twenty  fathoms  deep.  The  mole  built 
by  the  seaside  was  two  hundred  feet  wide,  with  towers  of 
sufficient  strength  to  break  the  force  of  the  severest  tempest. 
A  quay  encircled  the  whole  haven,  and  around  it  was  a 
street  of  polished  stone.  Of  similar,  but  still  nobler  struc¬ 
ture,  was  a  temple,  so  lofty  as  to  be  visible  at  a  distance 
from  the  sea,  in  which  was  a  statue  to  Csesar,  and  another 
to  Rome.  Among  other  works  were  a  theatre  and  amphi¬ 
theatre  of  great  dimensions  ;  and  no  less  labour  was  bestow¬ 
ed  on  subterranean  vaults.  The  city,  in  its  grandeur,  was 
given  up  to  pleasure ;  and  its  games  or  festivals,  famous 
throughout  the  empire,  were  renewed  every  fifth  year. 
Erected  at  incredible  expense  and  labour,  in  the  short  space 

*  Mark,  viii.,  45. 

t  The  ruins  of  Dara,  Bokatha,  Bassisa,  Alouba,  Afkerdouya,  Ilauratha  (this  was 
described  as  being  of  great  extent,  with  many  walls  and  arches  still  remaining),  En- 
zouby,  Hauarit,  Kleile,  Emteile,  Misherefe,  Zar,  Katloube,  Kseire,  Kasoua,  Beit-el- 
’Bfirak.-^BurckhardVs  Trav.,  p.  4.5.  t  .Tosephus,  tom.  i.,  p.  694.  Ant.,  xv.,  9. 


RUINS  OF  CITIES  IN  JUDEA,  ETC. 


301 


of  twelve  years,  its  glory,  like  its  games,  soon  ranked  with 
that  of  the  first  cities  of  the  empire,  till  its  king,  arrayed  in 
royal  apparel,  and  seated  on  his  throne — it  may  be  in  the 
noble  oratory  which,  as  we  have  seen,  flowed  in  an  after 
age  with  the  blood  of  the  citizens — addressed  the  people  in 
such  lofty  strains,  that  they  shouted.  It  is  the  voice  of  a  god, 
and  not  of  a  man.  The  worms  of  which  he  was  eaten,  ere 
by  the  law  of  nature  they  would  have  had  their  prey,  gave 
the  lie  to  such  blasphemous  adulation.  The  fall  of  the  proud 
monarch  was  an  emblem  of  that  of  the  proud  city ;  and  its 
fall  is  emblematical  of  that  of  all  Caesarean,  as  well  as  all 
papal  pride  and  power.  The  magnificent  city  of  Caesarea, 
the  noblest  monument  of  Herod’s  greatness,  the  capital  of  a 
kingdom,  and  afterward  of  a  province,  the  metropolitan  see 
of  nineteen  bishoprics,  is  so  buried  in  its  ruins,  that  its  pal¬ 
aces,  temples,  churches,  forum,  theatre,  amphitheatre,  walls, 
moles,  all  its  polished  houses,  and  many  of  its  mighty  tow¬ 
ers,  now  lie  in  undistinguishable  masses  of  undefinable  form, 
as  the  accompanying  plate,  more  than  words,  may  testify — 
over  all  of  which  indiscriminately,  covered  with  thistles  or 
thorns  and  rank  weeds,  wild  boars,  lynxes,  hyenas,  and 
wolves  have  their  abode  ;  while,  wholly  untenanted  as  it  is 
by  man,  vipers — of  which,  as  of  “  snakes  and  scorpions, 
there  are  many”* — may  there  bask  in  sculls,  as  in  the  sis¬ 
ter  archiepiscopal  city  of  Scythopolis. 

In  the  capital  of  Palestine,  as  in  many  cities  of  Syria, 
heaps  rising  above  the  ordinary  level  of  the  ground,  all 
raised  by  ruins,  distinguish  the  sites  of  public  buildings 
from  those  of  private  dwellings.  “  There  are  three  rising 
grounds,”  says  Pococke,  “  at  the  bottom  of  the  port ;  that  in 
the  middle  might  be  the  site  of  the  temple  ;  that  to  the  north 
might  be  the  forum ;  and  the  hill  to  the  south,  the  theatre  ; 
behind  which,  where  stood  the  amphitheatre,  the  rising 
ground,  I  suppose,  was  made  by  the  ruins  of  it.”t  “  The 
mounds,”  says  Mr.  Buckingham,  “  in  which  Pococke  thought 
he  could  recognise  the  sites  of  the  tower  of  Drusus,  Caesar’s 
temple,  &c.,  are  mere  masses  of  undefinable  form,  and  with¬ 
out  a  feature  that  could  assist  to  distinguish  the  one  from 
the  other. ”J  A  century  ago  the  separate  heaps  may  have 
been  somewhat  more  distinguishable  than  now.  But  Po¬ 
cocke  states  “  that  it  was  impossible  then  to  go  to  any  part 

*  Mr.  Robinson’s  Travels,  vol.  i.,  p.  190.  t  Pococke,  p.  59. 

t  Bucking-ham’s  Palestine,  p.  137. 

C  c 


302  RUINS  OF  CITIES  IN  JUDEA,  ETC. 

where  there  was  not  a  beaten  path — beaten  as  a  track  by 
beasts,  perha|5ls — the  ground  being  much  overgrown  with 
briers  and  thistles :  the  place  was  a  remarkable  resort  for 
wild  boars,  which  abound  also  in  the  neighbouring  plain ; 
and  when  the  Mohammedans  kill  them,  they  leave  their  car¬ 
casses  on  the  spot,”*  “  The  plain  at  present,”  says  Dr. 
Clarke,  “  is  inhabited  only  by  jackals  and  beasts  of  prey. 
As  we  were  becalmed  during  the  night,  we  heard  the  cries 
of  these  animals  until  daybreak.”!  Such  now  is  Caesarea, 
though  “  perhaps  there  has  not  been,  in  the  history  of  the 
world,  an  example  of  any  city  that  in  so  short  a  space  of 
time  rose  to  such  an  extraordinary  height  of  splendour.”J 
It  was  in  vain  that  Herod  built  it  as  an  enduring  monument 
of  his  glory ;  but  it  was  not  in  vain  that  an  apostle  of  Jesus, 
imprisoned  there  for  two  years,  shook  off  the  dust  of  his  feet 
as  he  passed,  not  to  return,  through  the  gates  of  Caesarea. 

In  the  sixteenth  century,  Rauwolff,  who  passed  by  it,  spoke 
of  the  large  and  broad  streets,  in  which  scarcely  any  one 
was  to  be  seen,  and  of  the  important  and  stately  antiquities 
that  still  remained  there. ^  Two  aqueducts,  one  carried  on 
a  wall  thirteen  feet  thick,  another  built  on  arches,  which 
was  a  rusticated  work ;  the  remains  of  walls  of  small  hewn 
stones,  said  to  have  been  built  by  the  Crusaders ;  the  ruins 
of  a  very  strong  castle,  full  of  fragments  of  fine  marble  pil¬ 
lars  ;  great  ruins  of  arched  houses  ;  and  the  “  ruins  of  a  large 
church,  which  probably  was  the  cathedral  of  the  archbish¬ 
op,”  are  all  mentioned  by  Pococke  as  the  most  distinguish¬ 
able  remains.il  Still  along  the  shore  are  the  remains  of  a 
building,  with  fine  Roman  arches  yet  perfect,  and  of  anoth¬ 
er  pile,  with  five  or  six  columns  fallen  into  the  sea.  Mr. 
Buckingham  saw  fragments  of  white  marble  highly  polish¬ 
ed,  some  of  the  white  stone  {XevKr}^  ixerpa^)  mentioned  by 
Josephus, IT  of  which  the  edifices  were  built ;  but  the  princi¬ 
pal  remains  are  the  ruins  of  a  large  and  well-built  fort  of  ex¬ 
cellent  workmanship,  with  many  pyramidal  bastions,  the 
whole  terminating  in  an  edifice  on  a  rocky  base  surrounded 
by  enormous  blocks  of  rocks,  probably,  as  Mr.  Buckingham 
remarks,  the  tower  of  Drusus,  which  was  built  on  the  mole 
itself,  where  this  ruin  stands,  having  braved  the  raging  fury 
of  two  thousand  winters,  and  still  defying  the  storms  of 

*  Pococke,  p.  59,  t  Clarke’s  Travels,  vol.  ii.,  p.  645.  t  Ibid. 

^  Ray’s  Collection  of  Travels,  p.  266.  II  P.  69. 

IT  Josephus,  tom.  i.,  p.  694.  Ant.,  iv.,  9. 


RUINS  OF  CITIES  IN  JUDEA,  ETC. 


303 


ocean  to  effect  its  total  demolition.  The  port  appears  rath¬ 
er  to  have  been  destroyed  by  a  besieging  force  than  to  have 
fallen  gradually  to  decay.* 

The  ruins  of  Caesarea  lie  in  heaps,  over  which  briers  and 
thistles  are  spread,  and,  as  it  were,  wild  -beasts  and  nox¬ 
ious  reptiles  watch.  And  if  the  ruins  of  Askelon  were  no 
sooner  touched,  and  the  sand  partially  cleared  away,  with 
the  intention  of  building  a  new  town  and  harbour  from  the 
ancient  materials,  than  many  interesting  remains  were  ex- 
■  posed  to  view,  what  may  not  Caesarea,  with  its  streets  of 
I  polished  stones  and  marble  buildings,  display  ?  The  case  is 
not  problematical ;  for,  according  to  the  testimony  of  Dr. 
Clarke,  and  the  confession  of  the  man  who  had  done  the 
work,  “  in  the  garden  of  Djezzar’s  palace  (then  Pasha  of 
Acre),  leading  to  his  summer  apartments,  we  saw  some  pil¬ 
lars  of  yellow  variegated  marble  of  extraordinary  beauty ; 
but  these,  he  informed  us,  he  had  procured  from  the  ruins 
of  Caesarea,  together  with  almost  all  the  marble  used  in  the 
decoration  of  his  very  sumptuous  mosque.  A  beautiful 
fountain  of  white  marble,  close  to  the  entrance  of  his  palace, 
has  also  been  constructed  with  materials  from  these  ruins.”! 
“  They  have  been  resorted  to  as  a  quarry  wherever  building 
materials  have  been  required.  At  Acre,  Djezzar  Pasha 
brousfht  from  hence  the  columns  of  rare  and  beautiful  mar- 
ble,  as  well  as  the  other  ornaments  of  his  palace,  bath,  fount¬ 
ain,  and  mosque.”! 

It  may  thus  begin  to  be  seen  that  the  labour  expended  on 
one  of  the  most  princely  of  cities,  the  fine  materials  of  which 
it  was  constructed,  the  polished  stones  of  which  elegant 
buildings  forming  streets  were  built,  the  masses  of  hevvn 
stone  which  were  once  the  palaces,  the  cathedral,  the 
churches,  the  oratory,  the  courts,  the  walls,  &dc.,  shall 
not  be  forever  lost.  Even  because  buried  they  are  best 
preserved ;  and  while  the  tombs  of  Petra  look  as  if  fresh 
from  the  chisel,  the  work  of  that  instrument  having  in  ages 
past  been  perfected  on  the  covered  stones  of  CiBsarea,  the 
hands  of  strangers,  to  whom  the  labour  pertains,  shall  have 
nothing  else  to  do  than  to  build  up  its  walls  into  habitations 
for  many  more,  it  may  well  be,  of  the  children  of  Israel  than 
the  ten  thousand  Jews  whom  the  other  citizens  slew  in  the 
day  of  the  downfall  of  Judah.  But  when  the  cities  of  Ju- 

*  Buckingham’s  Travels,  p,  135-137.  t  Clarke’s  Travels,  vol.  ii.,  p.  382. 

t  p.  645. 


304  RUINS  OF  CITIES  IN  JUDEA,  ETC. 

dah  and  of  Israel  shall  be  built  again,  and  the  Gospel  be  be¬ 
lieved  in  all  its  simplicity,  as  Paul  and  Peter  preached  it 
in  the  city  of  Caesarea,  no  statue  shall  be  raised,  as  of  old, 
to  Rome  or  to  Caesar,  to  heathen  gods  or  to  popish  saints  ; 
and  when  the  Lord  will  make  the  judges  of  his  people  just, 
there  shall  not  be  a  Festus  to  tremble  at  the  preaching  of 
righteousness,  temperance,  and  judgment  to  come,  nor  an 
Agrippa  on  earth,  who  shall  not  be  more  than  almost  a 
Christian,  nor  a  Herod,  to  whom  shall  be  given  the  glory 
which  pertains  to  the  Lord  alone  ;  but  all  the  houses  of 
Caesarea,  or  those  formed  from  its  stones,  shall  be  like  unto 
that  of  Cornelius  the  centurion,  the  first  Gentile  to  whom 
the  Gospel  was  sent,  and  who  believed  in  God  with  all  his 
house  j  and  where  the  repose  of  the  traveller  is  now  broken 
by  the  cry  of  wild  beasts,  songs  of  praise  shall  be  heard  in 
the  dwellings  of  the  righteous. 

On  the  coast  between  Caesarea  and  Carmel  are  the  exten¬ 
sive  ruins  of  the  ancient  Dora,  so  fallen  that  these  possess 
nothing  of  interest,  and  the  village  of  Athlite,  constructed 
from  the  ruins  of  a  more  ancient  city.  The  old  walls  which 
surround  it  are  those  of  Castrum  peregrinoriim.  Another 
wall  encloses  a  considerable  space  of  ground  now  uninhab¬ 
ited.  The  walls  and  windows  of  a  fine  Gothic  hall,  and 
many  similar  ruins,  bespeak  the  former  character  and  con¬ 
sequence  of  the  place.  “  From  the  commodiousness  of  the 
bay,  the  extent  of  the  quarries  in  the  neighbourhood,  the 
fine  plains  near  it,  though  now  but  partly  cultivated,  it  would 
seem  that  the  place  was  formerly  of  much  importance,  and 
that  the  neighbourhood,  though  now  very  thinly  inhabited, 
was  once  populous.”* 

Kkka,  the  ancient  Aeon,  Acre,  or  Ptolemais,  fell  to  the  lot 
of  the  tribe  of  Asher,f  though  the  Israelites,  faithless  in 
the  covenant,  could  not  drive  out  its  inhabitants.  It  was, 
in  the  Middle  Ages,  one  of  the  most  renowned  of  cities, 
from  the  multitude  of  slain  that  fell  before  its  walls.  For 
two  years  it  was  the  contested  prize  of  Christendom.  It 
was  fortified  in  the  strongest  manner  with  double  walls,  and 
towers,  and  fortresses,  and  adorned  with  a  great  hospital 
and  castellated  fortifications.^  Its  fame  was  renewed  in 
modern  times,  and  not  a  capital  in  Europe  could  boast  like 
it  that  the  baffled  Napoleon  retreated  from  its  walls  after  a 


*  Irby  and  Mangles,  p.  190-192.  Monro’s  Travels  in  Syria,  vol.  i., 
t  Judges,  i,,  31.  t  Bochard,  p,  2G0 


(2. 


RUINS  OF  CITIES  IN  JUDEA,  ETC. 


305 


desperate  and  bloody  siege  of  three  months.  Besieged  for 
twice  that  period  in  1834  by  Ibrahim  Pasha,  the  shores  and 
the  higli  grounds  being  occupied  with  batteries  to  the  far¬ 
thest  range,  it  fell  not  till  “  the  devastation  committed  upon 
the  domes  and  minarets  of  the  mosques  by  the  shells  and 
round  shot  were  visible  from  without ;  and  within,  walls 
and  houses  overthrown  gave  the  place  the  appearance  of  a 
heap  of  ruins.”*  An  illustration  was  given  how  a  city  of 
Syria  could  be  speedily  raised  from  its  ruins,  and  become, 
if  needful,  a  stronghold  again.  It  arose  once  more  from  its 
ruins,  and  with  it  Mehemet  Ali  held  Syria  as  his  own.  The 
last  siege,  still  fresh  in  the  memory  of  the  existing  genera¬ 
tion,  is  an  indication,  among  many  others,  that  the  time  at 
length  is  come  when,  compared  with  the  lingering  events  of 
earlier  days,  a  s/iorl  work  will  the  Lord  do  upon  the  earth. 
In  three  hours  it  fell,  not  from  the  ordinary  effects  of  any 
bombardment,  however  terrible.  As  if  commissioned  by 
the  Lord  of  Hosts,  who  is  the  Lord  of  Israel,  like  the  arrow 
from  a  bow  drawn  at  a  venture,  which  brought  Ahab  down, 
a  bomb  penetrated  a  magazine  of  powder  stored  up  for  de¬ 
fence,  and  raised  the  arsenal  in  the  air,  as  if  to  show  that 
the  time  was  come  that  the  \di%i  fortress  in  Palestine  should 
cease,  and  strewed  it  stone  by  stone  upon  the  ground,  as  if 
the  times  too  were  not  distant  when  the  hands  of  strangers 
should  find  other  work,  and  build  up  the  ruined  walls  in  an¬ 
other  form.  Taken  but  as  yes^^rday  by  the  British,  it  was 
given  to  the  Turks  !  whose  character  must  be  changed  ere 
the  work  of  reparation  be  done  by  them.  What  next  ?  it 
may  be  asked.  Let  the  answer  in  effect  be  seen.  And  it 
may  be  that  the  time  will  no  longer  tarry  till  the  world  be 
a  witness  that  it  was  not  in  vain  that  Acre  fell  to  the  lot  of 
a  tribe  of  Israel. 

In  passing  from  Acre  to  Tyre,  Captains  Irby  and  Man¬ 
gles,  about  three  hours  before  reaching  the  latter,  observed 
some  ruins  on  a  small  eminence,  which,  on  a  narrower  in¬ 
spection,  presented  to  their  view  the  remains  of  a  large  city, 
and  the  ruins  of  a  temple  in  a  most  dilapidated  state.  Only 
two  columns,  much  defaced,  are  standing,  the  ruined  mon¬ 
uments  of  a  decayed  city.  From  thence  the  remains  of  the 
great  ancient  paved  way  to  Tyre  are  distinctly  traceable, 
and  between  it  and  Sidon  they  “  passed  through  the  ruins  of 
five  or  six  large  cities,  now  mere  rubbish”  or  utterly  desolate. 

*  Monro,  vol.  i.,  p.  53. 

C  c  2 


306  RUINS  OF  CITIES  IN  JUDEA,  ETC. 

Of  the  hundreds  of  cities  or  towns  that  anciently  flourish¬ 
ed  in  Palestine,  whether  under  the  Israelites  or  the  Romans, 
not  one  has  been  left  to  give  now  an  example  or  illustration 
of  what  they  were.  Time  after  time  they  have  been  laid 
waste,  and  many  of  them  are  desolate  without  an  inhab¬ 
itant.  Where  miserable  villages  take  the  place  and  the 
name  of  large  towns,  and  where  towms  still  exist  where 
cities  stood,.nothing  more  can  be  said  than  the  prophet  fore¬ 
told  in  declaring  the  work  of  the  Lord  concerning  them. 
Thus  saith  the  Lord  God,  The  city  that  went  out  hy  a  thou¬ 
sand  shall  leave  a  hundred^  and  that  which  went  out  hy  a  hun¬ 
dred  shall  leave  ten,  to  the  house  of  Israel* 

The  Jews,  as  a  nation,  rejected  the  Messiah  ;  and  while 
the  Gospel  has  been  preached  for  many  ages  among  the 
Gentiles,  that  a  people  might  be  brought  from  among  them 
to  the  Lord,  Jerusalem  has  been  trodden  down  of  the  Gen¬ 
tiles,  and  the  cities  of  Judah  have  been  laid  waste.  In  de¬ 
nouncing  judgments  against  the  cities  of  Judah,  the  prophet 
charged  them  with  the  sin  of  idolatry :  According  to  the 
number  of  thy  cities  are  thy  gods,  O  Judah.\  That  they 
might  not  fall  for  the  want  of  a  message  of  salvation,  if  they 
would  have  heard  it,  Jesus  not  only  went  throughout  them, 
but  sent  his  twelve  apostles,  and  afterward  seventy  disci¬ 
ples,  to  preach  the  Gospel  in  them  all.  But  there  were  not 
believers  enough  to  save  th^cities,  and  they  fell,  though  the 
kingdom  of  God  had  come  nigh  unto  them  all.  An  apostate 
church,  in  after  ages,  could  not  reverse,  but  brought  down 
from  heaven  the  renewal  of  the  judgments.  Again  and  again 
has  the  fury  of  the  Lord  been  kindled  against  the  cities  of 
Judah,  and  he  has  laid  them  desolate  without  man  and  with¬ 
out  beast.  But  when  the  curses  of  the  covenant  shall  pass 
away,  and  wars  forever  cease  in  the  land,  because  the  Lord 
shall  make  a  new  and  everlasting  covenant  of  peace  with 
the  house  of  Judah  as  with  the  house  of  Israel,  then  shall 
his  oft-repeated  word  of  promise  be  fulfilled,  God  will  save 
Zion,  and  will  build  the  cities  of  Judah,  that  they  might  dwell 
there,  and  have  it  in  possession.  The  seed  also  of  his  ser¬ 
vants  shall  inherit  it,  and  they  that  love  his  name  shall  dwell 
therein.\  All  the  goodliness  of  man — all  the  goodliness,  as 
we  have  seen,  of  the  goodliest  of  cities — is  as  the  flower  of 
the  field  ;  the  grass  withereth,  the  flower  fadeth,  because  the 
Spirit  of  the  Lord  bloweth  upon  it.  And  in  Palestine  the 

*  Amos,  V.,  3.  t  Jer.,  ii.,  28.  t  Psalm  Ixix.,  35,  36. 


I 

1 

t- 

RUINS  IN  THE  NORTH  OF  SYRIA,  ETC.  307  | 

I 

sight  is  common  of  withered  grass  and  faded  flowers  cov-  1 1 

ering  ruined  cities,  ruined  because  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord 
has  blown  also  upon  them.  The  grass  withereth,  the  flower 
fadeih,  as  Scripture  repeats  the  saying ;  hut,  as  it  adds,  the 
word  of  our  God  shall  stand  forever.  And  in  the  next  words  j 

and  same  breath,  the  voice  heard  by  the  prophet  cried,  “  O 
Zion,  that  hringest  good  tidings,  get  thee  up  into  the  high  ■ 

mountain;  O  Jerusalem,  that  hringest  good  tidings,  lift  up 
thy  voice  with  strength  ;  lift  it  up,  he  not  afraid ;  say  unto  the  i 

cities  of  Judah,  hehold  your  God.^’*  “  I  have  blotted  out,  as  j 

a  thick  cloud,  thy  transgressions,  and,  as  a  cloud,  thy  sins ;  re~  i 

turn  unto  me,  for  I  have  redeemed  thee.  Sing,  O  ye  heavens,  I 

for  the  Lord  hath  done  it.  Thus  saith  the  Lord,  that  con-  \ 

firmeth  the  word  of  his  servants,  that  saith  to  Jerusalem,  thou  ■ 

shall  he  inhabited,  and  to  the  cities  of  Judah,  ye  shall  ^ 

BE  BUILT,  and  I  will  raise  up  the  decayed  places  (or  wastes)  ; 

thereof. ’’j  Israel  shall  be  saved  of  the  Lord  with  an  ever-  ! 

lasting  salvation.  J  In  the  cities  of  the  mountains,  in  the  cit-  ;[ 

ies  of  the  vale,  in  the  cities  of  the  south,  and  in  the  land  of 
Benjamin,  and  in  the  places  about  Jerusalem,  and  in  the  cit¬ 
ies  of  Judah,  shall  the  flocks  pass  under  the  hands  of  him 
that  telleth  them,  saith  the  Lord.  Behold,  the  days  come,  > 

saith  the  Lord,  that  I  will  perform  that  good  thing  which  I 
have  promised  unto  the  house  of  Israel  and  to  the  house  of 
Judah.  In  those  days  and  at  that  time,  I  will  cause  the 
branch  of  righteousness  to  grow  up  unto  David  ;  and  he 
shall  execute  judgment  and  righteousness  in  the  land.  In 
those  days  Judah  shall  be  saved. § 


CHAPTER  XL 

RUINS  IN  THE  NORTH  OF  SYRIA,  BEYOND  THE  ANCIENT 

BORDERS  OF  ISRAEL. 

The  iniquity  of  the  Israelites  in  departing  from  the  living 
God,  hemmed  them  within  narrow  limits  while  they  dwelt  in 
the  land,  and  finally  expelled  them  from  it  all ;  but  there 
was  no  limit  to  the  curses  of  the  covenant  which  were  to 

*  Isa.,  iL,  8,  9.  t  Ibid.,  irlir.,  23,  26. 

X  Ibid.,  xlr.,  17.  ^  Jer.,  xxxiii.,  13-15 


t 


308 


RUINS  IN  THE  NORTH  OP  SYRIA 


fall  upon  the  land,  while  there  was  no  city  to  be  found  with¬ 
in  it  in  which  the  everlasting  covenant  was  not  broken, 
when  thousands  of  churches  overspread  all  the  land.  On 

final  return  of  the  seed  of  Jacob  to  the  inheritance  given  ! 
them  by  an  everlasting  covenant,  when  they  shall  no  more 
be  plucked  out  of  it,  their  heritage,  in  all  its  amplitude,  shall  I 
be  theirs,  and  the  face  of  the  land  shall  be  filled  with  cities. 
They  shall  enlarge  the  place  of  their  tent,  and  shall  break 
forth  on  the  right  hand  and  on  the  left ;  and  their  seed  shall  \ 
inherit  the  Gentiles,  and  make  the  desolate  cities  to  be  inhab-  | 
ited.^  Throughout  the  extent  of  the  land  we  may  thus  look 
for  ruined  cities,  in  the  faith  that  as  assuredly  as  they  have 
fallen  they  shall  be  raised  again  within  all  the  borders  of  the 
ancient  kingdom  of  Israel,  when  the  blessings  of  the  new 
covenant  shall  supplant  the  curses  of  the  old,  and  the  Lord 
shall  be  glorified  in  Israel. 

The  diminutive  territory  within  which  the  seed  of  Israel 
dwelt  of  old,  and  possessed  as  their  own,  even  when  redu¬ 
ced  to  the  land  of  Judea,  sufficed  for  all  the  temporary  pur¬ 
poses  of  the  first  covenant  with  Israel  under  the  law ;  but 
the  new  covenant  yet  to  be  made  with  the  house  of  Israel 
and  the  house  of  Judah,  that  the  Abrahamic  covenant  may 
have  its  full  completion,  demands  ampler  scope,  as  it  forbids 
that  very  much  or  any  land  should  again  remain  to  be  pos~ 
sessed,  when  all  the  earth  shall  see  that  the  Lord  will  not 
suffer  his  faithfulness  to  fail.  Most  imperfect,  therefore, 
would  be  our  view,  were  we  not  to  cast  a  glance  from  Sidon 
to  Seleucia,  and  from  the  sources  of  the  Jordan  to  the  mouth 
of  the  Orontes,  and  from  thence  to  the  banks  of  the  Euphra¬ 
tes,  and  see  whether,  in  the  intermediate  widespread  terri¬ 
tories,  cities  be  not  ready  to  rise  from  their  ruins  whenever 
the  people  to  whom  it  pertains  shall  be  brought  within  the 
bonds  of  the  covenant,  and  shall  be  no  longer  slack  to  go  in 
and  possess  the  land  to  its  farthest  borders  on  every  side. 

When  Israel  shall  be  the  restorer  of  cities  to  dwell  in,  he 
will  not  seek  in  vain  where  cities  of  the  Canaanites  stood. 
Each  tribe,  on  the  north  as  well  as  on  the  south  of  the  land, 
may  well  have  its  towns  from  the  Mediterranean  Sea  to  the 
River  of  Assyria ;  and  if  the  Lord  do  better  to  them  than  at 
the  beginning.  He  will  not  do  worse  to  Israel  when  the  peo¬ 
ple  shall  be  all  righteous,  than  He  did  to  the  idolatrous  Ca¬ 
naanites  or  apostate  Romans,  nor  worse  to  the  believing 


*  Isa.,  liv.,  2. 


f 


BEYOND  THE  ANCIENT  BORDERS  OF  ISRAEL.  309 

sons  of  Isaac  when  they  shall  be  a  blessing  to  all  nations, 
than  He  did  to  the  misbelieving  sons  of  Ishmael  when  they 
came  as  a  wo  for  the  infliction  of  his  judgments. 

The  cities  of  Phoenicia,  which  were  long  renowned 
throughout  the  world,  and  which  armies  of  Crusaders  at 
first  passed  unassailed  and  only  reduced  after  many  years, 
have  for  ages  lost  their  fame,  and  some  of  them  have  only 
recently  been  recognised,  while  others  have  yet  to  be  sought 
for.  But  when  the  heritage  of  Jacob  shall  be  filled  with 
cities  along  the  seacoast,  against  which  the  sword  of  the 
Lord  has  been  unsheathed  from  end  to  end  for  many  gener¬ 
ations,  peaceful  dwellings  shall  arise,  and  the  sound  of  war 
be  heard  no  more,  but  the  Gospel  of  peace  shall  be  the  creed 
of  Israel  where  fierce  Crusaders  fought  in  vain. 

Byblus,  Esbele,  or  Jebail,  once  famous  for  the  temple  and 
worship  of  Adonis,  is  still  “  enclosed  by  a  wall  of  moderate 
height,  about  a  mile  and  a  half  in  circumference,  with  square 
towers  at  intervals.  Large  vacant  spaces  appear  on  every 
side,  formerly  occupied  by  houses,  and  the  shops  in  the  ba¬ 
zar  are  nearly  all  shut  up.”*  “  Many  fragments  of  fine 

granite  columns  are  lying  about  in  the  neighbourhood.  Few 
inhabitants  remain.”!  The  many  heaps  of  ruins,  and  the 
fine  pillars  that  are  scattered  up  and  down  in  the  gardens 
near  the  town,  show,  says  Mr.  Maundrell,  that  it  was  an¬ 
ciently  a  place  of  no  mean  extent  as  well  as  beauty .| 

Botrus  (Batrone),  before  its  destruction  by  the  Templars, 
was  a  very  opulent  city,  and  renowned  for  its  celebrated 
wines. §  At  Pairone,  its  humble  representative,  are  some 
remains  of  an  old  church  and  monastery  of  the  Middle  Ages, 
\  the  only  memorials  of  the  episcopal  city.jl 

In  the  territory  of  Tripoli,  some  remains  are  to  be  seen  of 
inland  as  w'ell  as  of  maritime  cities.  Near  the  village  of 
Beshiza  are  the  ruins  of  a  small  temple,  with  projecting  ba¬ 
ses  for  statues.  On  the  ruined  walls,  the  door  and  its  soffit 
are  ornamented  with  beautiful  sculptures,  not  inferior  to  those 
of  Baalbec.  The  entablature  of  the  portico  is  perfect.  Of 
the  four  Ionic  columns  which  formed  it,  three  are  stand- 
ing,  eighteen  feet  high,  and  of  a  single  stone.  In  the  midst 
of  the  building  stands  a  large  oak,  whose  overshadowing 
branches  render  the  ruin  highly  picturesque. *[[ 


*  Mr.  Robinson’s  Travels,  vol.  ii.,  p.  51. 
t  Maundrell,  p.  45. 

11  Maundrell,  p.  44.  Robinson,  p.  63. 


t  Burckhardt,  p.  180. 
^  Brucard,  p.  201. 

*11  Burckhardt,  p.  176. 


310 


RUINS  IN  THE  NORTH  OF  SYRIA, 


Ruins  bearing  the  name  of  Naous  form  the  remains  of  an 
ancient  town.  Of  two  ruined  temples,  it  is  said  that  they 
are  worthy  the  traveller’s  attention.  The  labour  and  art  ex¬ 
pended  upon  them  were  not  spent  that  they  might  be  hid  so 
long  and  finally  be  passed  by,  all  but  disregarded.  But  they 
are  worthy  of  attention  ;  for,  of  the  smaller  one,  there  still 
stands  a  ruined  wall  with  two  niches,  and  fragments  of  col¬ 
umns  three  feet  in  diameter.  It  is  an  oblong  building  com¬ 
posed  of  large  square  stones.  The  other,  which  stood  in 
an  area  of  sixty  paces  in  length  by  fifty  in  breadth,  is  sur¬ 
rounded  by  a  wall,  of  which  the  foundations  and  some  frag¬ 
ments  remain.  The  beautiful  gate  that  led  to  this  area  is 
still  entire  ;  the  two  posts,  elegantly  sculptured,  fourteen  feet 
high  and  ten  wide,  are  each,  together  with  the  soffit,  formed 
of  a  single  stone.  The  temple  within  presents  nothing  but 
a  heap  of  ruins.  The  ground  is  covered  with  Corinthian 
columns,  capitals,  and  friezes.  The  wall  of  the  area  is  built 
with  large  blocks  of  well-cut  stone,  some  of  which  are  up¬ 
ward  of  twelve  feet  long.* 

Archis,  or  Arka,  the  capital  of  the  Arkites,  and  the  birth¬ 
place  of  Alexander  Severus,  was,  as  described  by  the  Arch¬ 
bishop  of  Tyre,  one  of  the  cities  of  the  province  of  Phoeni¬ 
cia,  near  the  foot  of  Lebanon,  situated  on  a  strongly-fortified 
hill.f  A  very  fertile  plain,  five  miles  broad,  lay  between  it 
and  the  sea.  Of  this  ancient  metropolis  of  one  of  the  fam¬ 
ilies  of  the  Canaanites,  nothing  but  ruins  remain,  though  the 
natural  beauty  of  the  scene  and  richness  of  the  fertile  plain, 
five  miles  broad,  that  intervenes  between  it  and  the  sea,  are  as 
great  as  ever.  As  described  by  Dr.  Shaw,  “  It  is  built  over 
against  the  northern  extremity  of  Lebanon,  in  a  most  de¬ 
lightful  situation,  having  the  prospect  to  the  northward  of  an 
extensive  plain,  diversified  with  an  infinite  variety  of  castles 
and  villages,  ponds  and  ruins.  To  the  westward  it  sees  the 
sun  set  in  the  sea,  and  to  the  eastward,  rise  over  a  long  and 
distant  chain  of  mountains.  Here,  likewise,  are  not  want¬ 
ing  Thebaic  columns  and  rich  entablatures  to  attest  the  splen¬ 
dour  and  politeness  it  was  some  time  possessed  of.  The 
citadel  was  erected  on  the  summit  of  an  adjacent  mount, 
which  by  its  situation  must  have  been  impregnable  in  for¬ 
mer  times  ;  for  the  mount  is  in  the  figure  of  a  cone,  in  au  as¬ 
cent  of  fifty  or  sixty  degrees,  appearing  to  have  been,  not 
the  work  of  nature,  but  of  art.  In  the  deep  valley  below 

*  Burckhauit,  p.  173,  174.  Mr.  Robinson,  vol.  i.,  p.  48.  t  Will.  Tyr.,  p.  737. 


i 


i 

* 

i 


BEYOND  THE  ANCIENT  BORDERS  OF  ISRAEL.  313 

the  city  we  have  a  brisk  stream  more  than  sufficient  for  the 
necessities  of  the  plain  ;  yet  it  hath  been  judged  more  con¬ 
venient  to  supply  it  with  water  from  Mount  Lebanon,  for 
which  purpose  they  have  united  the  mountain  to  the  city 
by  an  aqueduct,  whose  principal  arch  could  not  be  less  than 
a  hundred  feet  in  diameter.”*  The  castles,  whose  variety 
served  to  diversify  the  plain,  may  now,  like  most  of  the 
Phoenician  cities,  be  sought  for  in  their  ruins.  When  all 
the  land  of  the  Canaanites  shall  be  possessed  by  the  Israel¬ 
ites,  and  the  cities  be  rebuilt,  the  labour  anciently  expend¬ 
ed  on  the  construction  of  Area  may  facilitate  its  re-erection. 
On  the  top  of  the  conical  artificial  hill  on  which  the  citadel 
stood,  there  are,  as  Burckhardt  was  told,  some  ruins  of  hab¬ 
itations  and  walls.  “  Upon  an  elevation  on  its  east  and  south 
sides,  which  commands  a  beautiful  view  over  the  plain,  the 
sea,  and  the  Anzeyry  Mountains,  are  large  and  extensive 
heaps  of  rubbish,  traces  of  ancient  buildings.  Mocks  of  hewn 
Slone,  remains  of  walls,  and  fragments  of  granite  columns.”! 

The  city  which  covered  the  small  islands  of  Aradus  [Ar- 
vad)  was  the  capital  of  the  Arvadites.  According  to  Stra¬ 
bo,  they  had,  in  early  ages,  kings  of  their  own,  like  other 
cities  of  Phoenicia;  and  he  states  that  in  his  day  it  was  so 
crowded  with  inhabitants  that  they  lived  in  houses  of  many 
stories. J  As  seen  from  the  shore  by  Maundrell,  it  was 
wholly  filled  up  with  tall  buildings  like  castles,  and  Po- 
cocke  states  that  there  were  great  remains  of  the  outer  wall, 
which  on  one  side  is  very  high  and  about  fifteen  feet  thick, 
being  built  of  large  stones,  some  of  which  are  fifteen  feet 
long.^ 

Near  it  on  the  coast  is  the  modern  Tarlous,  supposed  by 
some  to  be  Orthosia.  The  ancient  walls  are  of  large  hewn 
stones.  The  ancient  castle  or  fort  is  surrounded  by  a  double 
wall  of  coarse  marble  nearly  half  a  mile  in  circuit,  and  es¬ 
timated  by  Pococke  as  at  least  fifty  feet  high ;  within  it  is  a 
roofless  church,  with  several  holy  emblems  carved  upon  its 
walls.  Within  the  fortress  are  still  to  be  seen  the  traces  of 
the  more  extensive  walls  and  ditch  which  encompassed  the 
ancient  city,  and  fragments  of  buildings  and  granite  pillars 
mark  the  place  of  former  grandeur.  Amid  all  these  scat¬ 
tered  remains,  the  only  edifice  left  is  a  large  Christian  church, 
divided  into  three  aisles  by  two  rows  of  clustered  pillars. 


*  Shaw’s  Travels,  Oxon.,  1738,  p.  327,  328. 
t  Strabo,  p.  1071. 


t  Burckhardt,  p.  162. 
^  Pococke,  p.  202. 


312 


RUINS  IN  THE  NORTH  OP  SYRIA, 


like  those  of  cathedrals  in  England.  It  is  built  of  hewn 
stone  inside  and  out.  “  It  is  one  hundred  and  thirty  feet  in 
length,  in  breadth  ninety-three,  and  in  height  sixty-one. 
Its  walls,  and  arches,  and  pillars  are  of  a  bastard  marble, 
and  all  still  so  entire  that  a  small  expense  would  suffice  to 
recover  it  into  the  state  of  a  beautiful  church  again.  But,” 
says  Maundrell,  “  to  the  grief  of  any  Christian  beholder,  it 
is  now  made  a  stall  for  cattle.”  It  is  still  appropriated  to 
no  other  use  than  a  shelter  for  herds.* 

In  travelling  between  Tortosa  and  Jebilee,  Maundrell,  af¬ 
ter  noting  heaps  of  ruins  on  both  sides  of  the  Naher-el-Me- 
lech,  with  several  pillars  of  granite,  and  other  marks  of  con¬ 
siderable  buildings,  adds,  “  likewise,  all  along  this  day’s 
journey,  we  observed  many  ruins  of  castles  and  houses, 
which  testify  that  this  country,  however  it  be  neglected  at 
present,  was  once  in  the  hands  of  a  people  that  knew  how 
to  value  it,  and  thought  it  worth  the  defending.  Strabo  calls 
this  whole  region,  from  Jebilee  as  far  as  Aradus,  the  coun¬ 
try  of  the  Aradi,  and  gives  us  the  names  of  several  places 
situated  anciently  along  this  coast,  as  Paltus,  Balanea,  Ca- 
ranus,  Enydra,  Marathus,  Xirnyra.”! 

The  castle  Merkah  is  about  half  a  mile  in  circumference. 
The  inner  walls  are  fifteen  feet  thick.  The  ancient  fortifi¬ 
cations  now  enclose  a  village.^  From  Tortosa  to  Jebilee 
the  tract  exhibits  ruins  of  castles  and  ancient  sites,  and  the 
whole  tract  from  hence  to  Latakia,  to  judge  from  the  ruins 
and  ancient  sites  which  are  met  with,  was  formerly  thickly  in¬ 
habited,  though  now  nearly  deserted.^ 

'  Banias,  though  entirely  deserted,  is  doubtless  the  ancient 
Balanea.  “  Its  situation  proves  it  to  have  been  anciently 
pleasant,  its  ruins  are  well  built,  and  its  bay  an  advantageous 
situation. ”11 

Granite  pillars,  hewn  blocks,  excavated  sepulchres,  the 
remains  of  a  mole,  constructed  of  huge  square  stones,  pro¬ 
jecting  into  the  sea,  testify  in  some  measure  the  ancient 
splendour  of  the  city  of  Gabala  or  Jebilee  ;  but  the  greatest 
existing  monument  of  its  former  eminence  is  the  remains  of 
a  noble  theatre,  said  to  have  been  of  immense  height,  though, 
“  as  for  what  remains  of  this  mighty  Babel,”  says  Maundrell, 
“  it  is  no  more  than  twenty  feet  high.  The  flat  side  of  it 
has  been  blown  up  with  gunpowder  by  the  Turks  ;  and  from 

*  Maundrell,  p.  1524-25.  Pococke,  p.  201.  Buckingham,  520-522. 

t  Maundrell,  p.  21,  22.  t  Pococke,  p.  201.  Irby  and  Mangles,  p.  222. 

Mr.  Robinson,  p.  71.  11  Maundrell,  p.  23. 


BEYOND  THE  ANCIENT  BORDERS  OF  ISRAEL.  313 

ihence  (as  they  related)  was  taken  a  great  quantity  of  mar¬ 
ble  which  we  saw  used  in  adorning  the  bagnio  and  mosque.” 
The  semicircle,  which  alone  is  standing,  extends  a  hundred 
yards  from  corner  to  corner.  The  massiveness  of  the  build¬ 
ing,  still  convertible  to  other  uses  than  the  structure  of  a 
mosque,  may  be  judged  of  by  the  thickness  of  the  walls  of 
hewn  stone.  “  The  outer  wall  is  three  yards  three  quarters 
thick,  and  built  of  very  large  and  firm  stones,  whose  great 
strength  has  preserved  it  thus.”'*' 

Latakia,  the  ancient  Laodicea,  built  by  Seleucus  in  honour 
of  his  mother,  and  in  Christian  times  the  see  of  a  bishop, 
may  supply  a  significant,  but  imperfect,  because  untimely, 
illustration  of  the  facility  with  which  long-buried  cities  may 
be  disentombed,  and  the  hewn  stones  be  applied  to  their  yet 
destined  use.  It  was  a  very  inconsiderable  place  till,  to¬ 
wards  the  close  of  the  seventeenth  century,  on  the  establish¬ 
ment  of  the  tobacco  trade  to  Damietta,  the  town  was  enlar¬ 
ged,  and  several  good  houses  were  built  of  the  hewn  stones 
which,  in  the  time  and  according  to  the  testimony  of  Po- 
cocke,  they  were  continually  digging  out  of  the  ruins,  for  the 
ground  of  the  city  is  risen  very  much,  having  been  often  de¬ 
stroyed  by  earthquakes.!  Such  was  the  testimony  of  Po- 
cocke  nearly  a  century  ago  ;  and  Mr.  Robinson,  who  visited 
it  in  1830,  states  that  the  ruins  of  the  ancient  city  offer  ready 
building  materials  to  the  modern  inhabitants.^ 

For  the  reconstruction  of  Laodicea  not  a  stone  was  blast¬ 
ed  in  the  quarry,  nor  hewn  anew,  nor  transported  to  the  spot. 
The  ancient  city,  like  Caesarea,  was  itself  the  quarry,  and 
the  hewn  stones,  all  ready,  were  raised  up  where  they  lay : 
and  when  the  desolation  which  earthquakes  wrought  in  lev¬ 
elling  the  city,  and  thereby  raising  the  ground  on  which  it 
stood,  shall  be  counter-wrought  by  the  sons  of  strangers 
building  up  the  walls,  the  ground  shall  be  reduced  again  to 
its  proper  level,  the  heaps  disappear,  and  Laodicea  be  again 
what  it  was  in  the  days  of  Strabo,  a  splendidly-built  city.^ 
Some  remains  of  piers  built  into  the  sea,  foundations  of  walls 
of  large  hewn  stones,  and  some  signs  of  a  stronghold  at  the 
end  of  a  pier,  a  supposed  tower  that  defended  the-port,  seem 
to  indicate  the  site  of  Heracleum,  a  city  which,  like  many  in 
Syria,  can  only  be  raised  again  from  its  foundations.!  As 
low  as  it  lies  the  neighbouring  town  of  Fossidium,  more 

*  Maumirell,  p.  21.  Fococke,  p.  199.  Burckhardt,  p.  520,  530. 
t  Pococko,  p.  197.  t  Robiusou’s  Travels,  vol.  ii.,  p.  339. 

i  Strabo,  lib.  xvi.,  p.  1068,  ed.  Falcon.  II  Pococke,p.  194,  195 

D  D 


314  .  RUINS  IN  THE  NORTH  OF  SYRIA, 

easily  recognised  by  the  name  of  Bosseda  than  by  the  signs 
of  a  town-wall  and  of  a  fosse,  the  remains  of  a  round  tower, 
and  of  a  few  houses  of  hewn  stone,  as  if  to  tell  where  others 
lie,  which  now  bear  that  name.* 

If  the  reader  think,  from  such  examples  as  these,  that  he 
has  been  led  in  vain  through  many  a  useless  ruin,  in  which  no¬ 
thing  wo^hy  of  notice,  as  travellers  sometimes  say,  can  be 
seen,  and  which  only  dishonour  the  ancient  names  they  bear, 
let  him  look,  as  in  the  first  plate,  on  the  spot  where  the  sea  rip¬ 
ples  on  a  few  bare  stones  stretching  into  it  from  a  sandy 
beach,  and  let  him  listen,  not  to  the  tale  of  an  ordinary  trav¬ 
eller,  who  might  pass  them  by  all  but  unheeded,  but  to  the 
testimony  of  one  who  deservedly  stands  high  among  the  mil¬ 
itary  engineers  of  Britain,  and  now  commands  its  artillery  on 
the  coast  of  China,  to  open  up  a  way,  perhaps,  for  the  Gos¬ 
pel  of  peace  into  that  land  long  sealed  in  darkness  ;  and  he 
may  learn  that  richer  treasures  lie  concealed  amid  the  deso¬ 
lations  of  many  generations  than  the  wild  Arab  believes  to  be 
hid  among  ruins. 

In  that  plate  he  has  already  seen  how,  from  the  sea,  the  very 
high  mountain  may  be  pointed  out,  from  which  Mount  Amanus 
stretches  along,  as  it  forms,  the  northern  border  of  the  prom¬ 
ised  land.  And  if  the  time  be  come  when  Hor-ha-hor  may 
at  last  be  recognised  as  the  scriptural  landmark  from  which 
Israel’s  true  border  may  be  pointed  out,  the  very  spot  from 
which  the  view  is  taken,  and  from  which  the  Apostle  Paul 
first  embarked  from  Syria,  may  be  a  witness  of  the  triumph 
which,  in  the  land  of  its  birth,  as  throughout  the  world,  the 
Gospel  shall  yet  achieve.  Knowledge  shall  be  the  sta¬ 
bility  of  the  times  of  the  Messiah,  when  there  shall  be  no 
more  desolation  :  and  though  no  “  gallant  ships”  shall  pass 
by  Jerusalem,  they  may  be  safely  moored  in  the  harbours  of 
Israel,  when  its  cities  shall  be  rebuilt,  and  the  merchandise 
of  Tyre  shall  be  holiness  to  the  Lord.  The  time  has  come 
when,  strange  as  it  may  seern,  it  is  neither  a  problem  nor  a 
phantasy  to  say  that  the  long-forgotten  labours  of  Seleucus, 
as  of  Herod,  may  be  turned  to  account  at  no  distant  day,  and 
how  these  mighty  kings,  like  many  beside  them,  were  as 
hewers  of  stone  for  the  cities  of  Israel. 

Along  the  seacoast — which  was  destined  for  a  time  to  be 
destroyed — we  have  seen  how,  on  one  extremity,  materials 
for  the  reconstruction  of  a  city  and  of  a  harbour  have  recent- 


*  Pococke,  p.  195. 


BEYOND  THE  ANCIENT  BORDERS  OF  ISRAEL, 


315 


iy  been  laid  open  to  view  at  Askelon^  and  how  the  ornaments 
of  a  palace,  &c,,  have  been  already  taken  from  the  heaps  of 
Caesarea  ;  and,  having  reached  the  entrance  into  Hamath, 
we  may  pause  for  a  moment  at  the  ruins  of  Seleucia,  and 
think  of  things  that  yet  shall  be. 

The  article  from  the  pen  of  Colonel  Chesney,  on  the  Bay 
of  Antioch  and  the  ruins  of  Seleucia  Pieria,  here  again  sup¬ 
plies  us  with  facts  alike  interesting  and  important,  which 
might  at  once  silence  every  cavil  as  to  the  restoration  of  a 
port,  or  the  re-erection  of  a  city  in  Syria.  The  needful  re¬ 
fairs  of  a  Phoenician  harbour  may  be  as  “trifling”  as  those 
of  a  city  of  Bashan,  when  the  cities  that  need  no  more  shall, 
according  to  the  Word  of  the  Lord,  be  repaired,  and  the 
desolations  of  many  generations  shall  be  raised  up  to  perpet¬ 
uate  the  glory  of  the  God  of  Israel.  Modern,  like  ancient, 
governors  and  kings  have  all  their  projects  of  a  day,  but  the 
covenant  of  the  Lord  shall  stand  forever. 

“  Ali  Pasha,  the  present  governor  of  Bagdad  (once  gov¬ 
ernor  of  Aleppo),  had,  however,  a  different  project  (than  that 
of  rendering  the  Orontes  navigable)  when  he  turned  his 
thoughts  to  the  means  of  increasing  the  commercial  pros¬ 
perity  of  this  part  of  Turkey.  The  foundation  of  his  plan 
was  to  be  the  restoration  of  the  once  magnificent  port  of  Se¬ 
leucia,  the  masonry  of  which  is  still  in  so  good  a  state  that 
it  merely  requires  trifling  repairs  in  sorne  places,  and  to  be 
cleared  out,  which  might  have  been  done  for  jG31,000,  and 
partially  for  jG  10,000.*  On  the  south  side  of  the  entrance 
there  is  a  very  substantial  jetty,  formed  of  large  blocks  of 
stone  secured  by  iron  cramps.  It  runs  northwest  for  sev¬ 
enty  yards  to  the  sea,  and  it  may  still  be  traced  running 
more  to  the  north  under  water,  and  overlapping  the  northern 
jetty,  which  is  in  a  more  ruinous  state,  but  appears  to  have 
taken  the  direction  of  W.S.W.,  forming  a  kind  of  basin, 
with  a  narrow  entrance,  tolerably  well  protected,  and  alto¬ 
gether  suited  for  the  Roman  galleys.  The  ancient  flood¬ 
gates  are  about  fifty  yards  east  of  the  south  pier.  The  pas¬ 
sage  for  the  galleys,  &c.,  is  cut  through  the  solid  rock,  on 
which  are  the  remains  of  a  defensive  tower  on  each  side  ; 
apartments  below,  with  the  remains  of  staircases  to  the  top 
of  each,  are  sufficiently  distinct,  as  well  as  the  places  where 
the  gates  had  been  suspended  between  the  towers. 

“Immediately  on  passing  the  gateway  the  passage  widens 

*  According  to  tho  estimate  of  Mr.  Vincent  Germain, 


316 


RUINS  IN  THE  NORTH  OF  SYRIA, 


to  about  100  yards  :  it  takes  the  direction  of  S.E.  by  E. 
between  two  solid  walls  of  masonry  for  350  yards  to  the 
entrance  of  the  great  basin,  which  is  now  closed  by  a  gar¬ 
den  wall.  The  port  or  basin  is  an  irregular  wall  of  about 
450  yards  long  by  350  in  width  in  the  southern  extremity, 
and  rather  more  than  200  at  the  northern.  The  surround¬ 
ing  wall  is  formed  of  large  cut  stones  solidly  put  together, 
and  now  rising  only  about  seven  feet  above  the  mud,  which, 
during  the  lapse  of  ages,  has  gradually  accumulated  so  as  to 
cover  probably  about  eight  feet  above  the  original  level. 
The  exterior  side  of  the  basin  is  about  one  third  of  a  mile 
from  the  sea  ;  the  interior  is  close  to  the  foot  of  the  hill. 
The  walls  of  the  suburb  touch  the  southwestern  extremity 
of  the  basin,  and  entered  S.  by  E.,  from  thence  parallel  to 
the  sea  for  three  quarters  of  a  mile,  when  they  turn  east¬ 
ward  for  the  same  distance,  flanked  at  short  intervals  by 
square  towers.  These  walls  form  a  triangle,  touching  the 
basin  at  one  end,  and  the  walls  of  the  principal  city  at  the 
other,  so  as  to  enclose  what  is  described  by  Polybius,  and 
subsequently  by  Pococke,  as  the  market-place  and  suburbs. 
The  walls  of  the  interior  part  of  the  city  appear  to  have  had, 
as  usual  in  Roman  fortresses,  a  double  line  of  defence, 
sweeping  round  to  the  north,  where  they  rest  against  the 
hill,  which  seems  to  have  a  castellated  citadel  on  its  sum¬ 
mit.  On  the  S.E.  side  of  the  walls  is  the  gate  of  Antioch, 
adorned  with  pilasters  and  defended  by  towers  ;  this  en¬ 
trance  must  have  been  very  handsome  ;  near  it,  and  paral¬ 
lel  to  the  walls,  are  the  remains  of  a  double  row  of  marble 
columns.  The  space  within  the  walls  of  the  town  and  sub¬ 
urbs,  which  have  a  circumference  altogether  of  about  four 
miles,  is  filled  with  the  ruins  of  houses.  A  short  distance 
from  the  town,  on  the  east  side,  are  the  remains  oka  large 
amphitheatre  tolerably  distinct.  About  fourteen  rows  of 
seats  may  be  traced  in  a  semicircular  form,  filling  up  the 
whole  of  the  valley  in  which  the  amphitheatre  is  placed, 
with  its  opening  to  the  west,  commanding  a  fine  view  of  the 
bay.  To  the  S.E.,  and  behind  the  hill  (on  which  is  the 
amphitheatre),  are  the  remains  of  two  temples  ;  the  frag¬ 
ments  of  pilasters,  shafts,  &c.,  are  numerous  ;  one  seems  to 
have  been  of  the  Corinthian  order,  in  good  taste,  but  I  could 
not  make  out  the  plan  of  either  of  the  buildings.  The  range 
of  hills  behind  the  ruins  extends  almost  two  miles,  and  con¬ 
tains  along  its  sides,  as  well  as  in  the  valleys,  numerous 


TT 


BEYOND  THE  ANCIENT  BORDERS  OF  ISRAEL.  317 

excavations,  which  are  almost  continuous  throughout  this 
distance.  Generally  speaking,  they  form  only  a  single  row 
and  of  small  size,  but  occasionally  there  is  a  second  line  of 
them,  above  or  below  the  others.  For  part  of  the  distance 
these  grottoes  (evidently  sepulchral)  are  generally  of  two 
kinds ;  the  larger  about  twelve  feet  long  by  seven  wide, 
having  the  front  supported  by  pilasters  left  in  excavating  the 
solid  rock,  and  within  are  three  niches  for  bodies,  viz.,  one 
on  each  side,  and  one  at  the  back  of  the  same  dimensions, 
viz.,  two  feet  and  a  half  high,  and  the  same  width,  with  a 
raised  place  left  in  the  niche,  of  solid  stone  about  four  inches 
high,  like  a  pillow  for  the  head  to  rest  upon  ;  these  niches 
are  sometimes  arched,  but  generally  flat  above.  The  small¬ 
er  grottoes  have  a  niche  at  each  side,  with  a  narrow  space 
betweeii  them.  One  set  of  grottoes  is  called  the  Tomb  of 
Kings ;  it  consists  of  a  facade  entrance  and  several  apart¬ 
ments,  one  within  the  other,  with  columns,  and  a  staircase 
leading  to  another  range  of  rooms  above.  In  addition  to 
these,  which  are  the  most  striking,  there  is  another  single 
grotto  of  large  dimensions  in  one  of  the  valleys  along  the 
side  of  the  hill :  this  excavation  is  100  paces  by  60  wide, 
and  25  high  in  the  centre,  the  rock  being  excavated  so  as 
to  form  an  arch  springing  from  the  ground  on  each  side,  that 
is,  without  side-walls.  In  addition  to  these  sepulchral  grot¬ 
toes,  of  which  some  hundreds  cover  the  face  of  the  hills  and 
all  their  valleys,  there  are  many  sarcophagi  scattered  about 
in  every  direction,  always  of  good  workmanship,  and  toler¬ 
ably  perfect,  although  they  have  been  opened  in  almost  ev¬ 
ery  instance,  probably  in  search  of  money. 

“  But  the  most  striking  part  of  the  interesting  remains  at 
Seleucia  is  a  very  extensive  excavation,  cut  through  the 
solid  rock  from  the  northeastern  extremity  of  the  town  al¬ 
most  to  the  sea,  part  of  which  is  a  deep  hollow  way,  and 
the  remainder  regular  tunnels,  excavated  with  great  skill 
and  considerable  labour.”*  It  extends  1088  yards. 

The  markets  and  the  suburbs,  which,  according  to  Polyb¬ 
ius,  lay  between  the  city  and  the  sea,  were  fortified  with 
strong  walls  ;  and  those  which  surrounded  the  city  itself 
were  remarkable  for  their  beauty  as  well  as  their  strength. 
Temples  and  other  magnificent  edifices  adorned  Seleucia. f 
According  to  Strabo,  it  was  strongly  fortified  ;  and  Seleiicis, 

*  Journal  of  the  Geographical  Society,  vol.  viii.,  p.  230-232. 

t  Polyb.,  Hist.,  lib.  v.,  c.  5. 

D  D  2 


318 


RUINS  IN  THE  NORTH  OF  SYRIA, 


in  which  it  lay,  was  also  called  Tetrapolis,  or  the  four  cities, 
from  Antioch,  vSeleucia,  Apamea,  and  Laodicea,  the  four 
most  illustrious  cities  of  that  region,  in  which  there  were 
also  others."^  An  indiscriminate  heap  of  ruins,  enclosed 
within  the  remains  of  walls  four  miles  in  circuit,  looks  not 
now  as  if,  in  another  form,  it  ever  had  been  destined  to  dig¬ 
nify  the  name  of  Seleucus  Nicator,  the  most  renowned  and 
triumphant  of  the  successors  of  Alexander  the  Great.  How 
little  the  greatness  of  an  ancient  city,  or  the  utility  to  which 
its  ruins  are  easily  convertible,  may  be  recognised  in  the 
notice  which  a  passing  traveller  deigns  to  take,  may  appear 
from  the  fact  that  Captains  Irby  and  Mangles,  intelligent 
travellers  as  they  were,  and  in  search  of  ruins,  rested  during 
night  two  miles  from  the  ruins  of  Seleucia,  and  passed  with¬ 
out  visiting  them,  not  merely  because  they  were  pressed  for 
time,  but  because  they  understood  that  the  “  ruins  possessed 
no  particular  interest.”  Now  many  a  city  of  Syria  may,  to 
all  visible  appearance,  be  thus  justly  described ;  but  while 
they  are  thus  shown  to  be  utterly  desolate,  a  closer  exam¬ 
ination  vindicates  the  word  which,  long  before  their  fall — 
nay,  before  the  erection  of  many  of  them — foretold  their  yet 
future  rise. 

But  an  estimate  for  the  reconstruction  of  any  ancient  port 
or  city  is  a  novelty :  and  unworthy  of  an  hour’s  detention  as 
ruins  may  really  be,  from  the  little  interest  which  their  sight 
awakens,  let  the  engineer  or  the  architect  set  about  the  work 
of  the  rebuilding  of  a  once  magnificent  city,  and  heaps  else 
unworthy  of  notice  become,  on  disclosing  their  stores,  as 
treasures  in  their  eyes,  and  “  masonry”  that  has  unprolitably 
braved  the  billows  for  ages  may  be  restored,  at  comparative¬ 
ly  a  trifling  cost  and  easy  process,  to  its  primitive  use. 

Having  passed  from  the  south  along  the  Syrian  and  Phoe¬ 
nician  coast  to  Seleucia,  the  last  city  of  Syria,  it  may  be  worth 
while,  without  turning  aside  from  our  subject,  to  offer  a  brief 
remark  or  two  suitable  to  the  spot,  and  deducible  from  the 
facts  immediately  or  previously  before  us. 

The  present  pasha  of  Egypt  on  the  one  end  of  the  coast, 
and,  on  the  other  extremity,  the  present  pasha  of  Bagdad, 
while  he  held  another  office,  purposed,  at  least,  to  set  their 
hands,  in  either  case,  to  a  work,  the  practicability,  nay,  the 
facility  of  which,  under  more  propitious  circumstances,  it 
were  now  unreasonable  to  doubt.  The  preparatory  work 

*  Strabo,  c.  xvi.,  p.  1064. 


BEYOND  THE  ANCIENT  BORDERS  OF  ISRAEL.  319 

was  accomplished  in  the  one  case,  and  an  estimate  furnish¬ 
ed  in  the  other ;  but  so  wild  a  project  would  never  have 
crossed  the  imagination  of  either  pasha  as  that  of  erecting 
a  city  or  constructing  a  port,  if  Askelon  and  Seleucia,  fallen 
as  they  are,  had  not  existed  as  they  lie,  ready  to  be  raised 
or  to  be  restored.  Faccardine,  a  prince  of  the  Druses,  fill¬ 
ed  up  the  ports  of  Syria  that  he  might  shut  out  from  them 
the  ships  of  the  sultan.  *  He  was  the  unconscious  instru¬ 
ment,  at  last,  in  fully  accomplishing  the  word  of  the  Lord ; 
/  will  destroy  the  remnant  of  the  seacoast*  But,  according 
to  the  same  infallible  word,  the  coast  shall  he  for  the  remnant 
of  the  house  of  Judah.]  And  no  exception  is  made  of  its 
cities  when  the  work  of  restoration  shall  be  begun.  For 
that  of  the  once  magnificent  port  of  Seleucia,  “  trifling  re¬ 
pairs  in. some  places,”  and  the  “  clearing  out”  of  the  harbour, 
now  an  easy  task,  alone  suffice.  If  the  time  were  come, 
let  but  a  word  be  spoken,  and  the  work  would  be  done. 
So  slight  would  be  the  expenditure,  that  many  thousands  of 
individuals  now  would  scarcely  boast  of  the  restoration,  at 
such  a  price,  of  the  once  magnificent  port  of  Seleucia :  and 
there  are  not  a  few  of  the  tribe  of  Judah  who  would  not  be 
impoverished  by  the  restoration,  if  effected  thus,  of  many 
harbours  in  Syria.  May  it  not  be  that  Faccardine’s  mode 
of  rendering  useless  for  a  season  the  Syrian  harbours,  has 
proved  a  mean  of  preserving  them  ?  And  how  easily  might 
it  be  done  away,  as  it  was  easily  effected,  and  at  how  tri¬ 
lling  a  cost,  were  other  estimates  given,  compared  to  the 
heavy  tax  which  Herod  the  Great  laid  on  a  kingdom,  to  con¬ 
struct,  in  so  marvellous  a  manner,  the  port  and  city  of  Cae¬ 
sarea,  or  Seleucus  that  of  Seleucia. 

But  till  the  Lord  willeth — in  whose  hands  are  the  times 
and  the  seasons,  as  Jesus  said  when  the  time  of  the  resto¬ 
ration  of  the  kingdom  to  Israel  was  the  question  put  to  him 
who  alone  could  answer  it — till  the  Lord  willeth,  even  the 
attempted  restoration  will  be  in  vain.  It  is  not  by  might, 
nor  by  strength,  far  less  by  money,  the  love  of  which  has 
been  the  stumbling-block  of  their  iniquity,  that  the  covenant  of 
promise  shall  meet  with  its  accomplishment.  But  we  have 
seen  an  instance,  like  many  others  which  may  be  marked  in 
passing,  that  national  works,  as  they  might  seem,  may  be 
the  device  of  a  moment,  and,  like  Israel’s  own  restoration, 
the  work  of  a  day.  The  city  of  Seleucia  was  worthy  of  a 

*  Ezek.,  XXV.,  16.  t  Zeph.,  ii.,  7. 


320  RUINS  IN  THE  NORTH  OF  SYRIA, 

great  king,  of  whom  it  was  written  in  the  Scripture  of  Truth, 
“he  shall  have  dominion,  his  kingdom  shall  be  a  great  do¬ 
minion.”^  He  was  the  first  of  the  Seleucidae,  a  stranger, 
but  the  conqueror  of  Syria,  renowned,  like  Herod,  for  the 
noble  cities  that  he  built.  The  work  respectively  assigned 
them  by  Israel’s  God,  which  strangers  began,  though  long 
retarded  and  seemingly  reversed  for  centuries  past,  the  sons 
of  strangers,]  who  of  late  have  prematurely  tried  it,  shall 
yet  timely  finish. 

Antioch,  the  seat  of  many  kings,  the  chief  patriarchate  of 
the  East,  whose  walls  and  bulwarks  were  ranked  among  the 
strongest,  and  its  numerous  churches  were  the  finest  in  the 
world,  often  shattered  and  destroyed  by  earthquakes,  more 
than  by  all  the  fiercest  ravages  of  war,  has  still  some  tokens 
to  show  with  what  facility,  were  the  days  of  its  restoration 
come,  it  would  be  a  great  city  again,  but  not  a  proud  city  as 
before,  the  seat  of  despotic  and  priestly  domination.  The 
capital  of  a  province  or  tribedom  in  Israel  shall  not  be  like 
the  capital  of  a  Roman  province  or  a  patriarchal  see,  where 
sin  reigned  and  ruin  followed. 

A  single  sentence,  and  the  view  of  a  single  gate  (see 
Plate),  as  drawn  by  Las  Casas,  towards  the  close  of  last 
century,  may  show  that  a  city  without  walls,  as  those  of  Is¬ 
rael  shall  be,  might  be  built  from  those  which  anciently 
were  raised  for  its  defence.  The  ancient  walls  (as  now  to 
be  seen),  which  appear  to  have  enclosed  a  space  of  nearly 
four  miles  in  circuit,  are  “  generally  from  thirty  to  fifty  feet 
in  height  in  their  extremes,  and  fifteen  feet  thick  throughout, 
having  also  square  towers  from  fifty  to  eighty  feet  high,  at 
intervals  of  from  fifty  to  eighty  yards  apart.  The  stones  of 
which  these  walls  are  constructed  are  not  large,  but  the  ma¬ 
sonry  is  solid  and  good.  In  the  S.W.  quarter,  tbe  walls  and 
towers  (of  hewn  stone)  are  in  one  portion  perfect,  and  in 
another  close  by  much  destroyed,  until  they  disappear  al¬ 
together,  leaving  a  wide  space  between  their  last  fragment 
here,  and  the  portion  that  continues  along  the  banks  of  the 
river. ”1  Pliny  states  that  it  was  divided  by  the  Orontes ; 
but  now  tbe  present  town,  which  is  a  miserable  one,  does 
not  occupy  more  than  one  eighth  part  of  the  space  included 
by  the  old  walls,  which  are  all  on  its  southern  side.  The 
northern  portion  within  the  ancient  walls  is  now  filled  with 

*  U;in.,  li..  f).  t  Isa.,  lx.,  10. 

}  ii..' 'i.'tii’s  Travels  among  the  Arab  Tribes,  p.  560,  561. 


i! 

■I 

fi 


BEYOND  THE  ANCIENT  BORDERS  OF  ISRAEL.  321 


one  extensive  wood  of  gardens,  chiefly  olive,  mulberry,  and 
flg  trees.*  Of  the  many  elegant  churches  of  Antioch,  the 
remains  of  only  three  or  four,  a  century  ago,  were  to  be 
seen.  Pococke  saw  some  pieces  of  marble  of  a  Mosaic 
pavement,  which  he  supposed  might  indicate  the  site  of  the 
patriarchal  church  ;  and  he  conjectured  that  the  patriarch¬ 
al  palace  stood  on  the  top  of  a  hill  in  its  vicinity.  Such 
is  the  end  of  the  apostolic  see  !  A  vague  conjecture  is  the 
only  homage  that  can  now  be  paid  to  the  departed  glory  of 
the  throne  which  exercised  supremacy  over  two  hundred 
and  forty  bishoprics.  It  is  but  a  glory  of  this  world  that 
can  thus  pass  away,  and  such  is  the  inheritance  which  the 
highest  of  hierarchies  can  bequeath. 

Vainglory  stimulated  Syrian  kings  and  Roman  governors 
to  erect  splendid  cities,  and  superstition  in  later  ages  prompt¬ 
ed  Roman  devotees  to  raise  stately  edifices  that  could  cope 
with  magnificent  heathen  temples  ;  each  sharing  a  like  fate 
in  their  ruins,  may  be  turned  to  a  like  use  in  their  end.  If 
the  multitude  of  churches  could  have  saved  a  city  or  a  coun¬ 
try,  Antioch  with  its  hundreds  would  yet  have  stood ;  and 
the  hill  between  it  and  the  sea  (Benkiliseh),  with  its  repu¬ 
ted  thousand  churches,  as  the  name  imports,  would  yet  have 
been  covered  with  the  dwellings  of  men.  At  the  top  of  it 
are  the  remains  of  a  very  noble  convent,  called  St.  Simon 
Stylltes ;  the  whole  of  which  was  compassed  by  a  wall  built 
of  hewn  stone,  about  ninety  paces  in  front,  and  two  hundred 
and  thirty  in  length. 

A  similar  edifice  of  the  same  name,  with  numerous  build¬ 
ings  anciently  surrounding  it,  enough  to  have  formed  a  mag¬ 
nificent  city,  is  described  both  by  Pococke  and  Mr.  Drum¬ 
mond,  who  was  British  consul  at  Aleppo  in  the  middle  of 
last  century.  It  is  situated  about  twenty  miles  to  the  north¬ 
west  of  Aleppo.  It  was  famous  in  the  sixth  and  seventh 
centuries,  not  only  for  the  devotion  paid  to  the  saint?  but 
also  for  the  spaciousness  and  magnificence  of  its  buildings, 
which  are  yet  entitled  to  a  place  among  the  ruins  of  Syria. 
“  The  whole  convent  appears  to  have  been  built  of  large 
hewn  stones,  and  is  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile  in  length. 
The  church  especially,”  says  Pococke,  “  is  very  magnificent, 
and  is  built  in  form  of  a  Greek  cross.  At  the  east  end  of  the 
choir  are  three  semicircles,  where,  without  doubt,  there 
were  three  altars,  and  the  entrances  to  them  are  adorned 

*  Irby  and  Mangles,  p.  229.  Bucking-ham,  p.  562.  Pococke,  p.  387 


S22 


RUINS  IN  THE*  NORTH  OF  SYRIA, 


with  reliefs.”*  The  breadth  of  the  church  is  two  hundred 
and  seventy-eight  feet,  and  on  the  south  side  there  is  a 
handsome  portico  :  the  whole  length  was  computed  at  three 
hundred  and  fifty-two  feet.  Without  the  church,  on  the 
back  part  of  the  altar,  are  two  rows  of  six  Corinthian  pil¬ 
lars,  &c.  The  cloisters,  or  cells  for  the  monks,  have  been 
very  extensive,  with  a  grandeur  proportioned  to  that  of  the 
church. t 

“  The  reputed  sanctity  of  the  place  invited  a  vast  number 
of  deluded  enthusiasts  to  settle  around  it,  so  that  the  whole 
hill,  together  with  a  great  part  of  the  plain  below,  was  cov¬ 
ered  with  buildings.  From  the  ruins  that  are  found  in  all 
these  countries,  it  appears  that  the  meanest  buildings  had 
been  of  solid  architecture.  Several  villages  in  the  vicinity, 
now  in  ruins,  were  built  of  hewn  stone.”:}: 

Ruins  of  cities  and  of  churches  are  numerous  in  the  inte¬ 
rior  of  Northern  Syria,  as  well  as  along  the  Phoenician 
coast ;  and  in  passing  to  a  review  of  them,  we  may  cast  a 
glance  at  another  convent  in  the  north  of  Syria,  and  at  thick¬ 
set  churches,  now  in  ruins,  dedicated  to  other  saints.  The 
unimpeachable  testimony  of  Maundrell,  who  was  chaplain 
to  the  British  factory  at  Aleppo,  may  be  here  adduced  ;  and 
the  preamble  may  tend  to  show  that  idolatry,  or  superstition, 
is  not  a  solitary  vice. 

“We  went  to  Sydonaiia,  a  Greek  convent  about  four 
hours  distant  from  Damascus,  to  the  northward,  or  north  by 
east.  This  place  was  first  founded  and  endowed  by  the 
Emperor  Justinian.  It  is  (A.D.  1697)  possessed  by  twenty 
Greek  monks  and  forty  nuns,  who  seem  to  live  promiscu¬ 
ously  together,  without  any  order  or  separation.  There  are 
upon  this  rock,  and  within  a  little  distance  round  it,  no  less 
than  sixteen  churches  or  oratorios,  dedicated  to  several 
names.  The  1st,  to  St.John;  2d,  to  St.  Paul ;  3d,  to  St. 
Thomas  ;  4th,  to  St.  Babylas  ;  5th,  to  St.  Barbara  ;  6th,  to 
St.  Christopher  ;  7th,  to  St.  Joseph  ;  8th,  to  St.  Lazarus  ; 
9th,  to  the  Blessed  Virgin;  10th,  to  St.  Demetrius  ;  11th, 
to  St.  Saba  ;  12th,  to  St.  Peter  ;  13th,  to  St.  George  ;  14th, 
to  all  Saints  ;  15th,  to  the  Ascension  ;  16th,  to  the  Trans¬ 
figuration  of  our  Lord  ;  from  all  which  we  may  well  con-  ' 
elude  this  place  was  held  anciently  in  no  small  repute  for 
sanctity.  Many  of  these  churches  I  actually  visited,  but 

*  Pococke,  p.  170.  t  Drummond’s  Travels,  p.  196,  197. 

t  Drummond,  p.  195,  196.  Pococke,  p.  170. 


BEYOND  THE  ANCIENT  BORDERS  OF  ISRAEL.  323 

found  them  so  ruined  and  desolate  that  I  had  not  courage  to 
go  to  all.”'^ 

In  a  previous  part  of  his  work,  the  same  author,  after  de- 
scribing  how,  in  the  midst  of  the  ruins  of  Tyre,  there  stands 
up  one  pile  higher  than  the  rest,  which  is  the  east  end  of  a 
great  church,  probably  of  the  Cathedral  of  Tyre,  adds, 

“  I  cannot  omit  an  observation  made  by  most  of  our  com¬ 
pany  in  this  journey,  viz.,  that  in  all  the  ruins  of  churches 
which  we  saw,  though  their  other  parts  were  totally  demol¬ 
ished,  yet  the  east  end  we  always  found  standing  and  toler¬ 
ably  entire.  Whether  the  Christians,  when  overrun  by  in¬ 
fidels,  redeemed  their  altars  from  ruin  with  money ;  or 
whether  even  the  barbarians,  when  they  demolished  the 
other  parts  of  the  churches,  might  voluntarily  spare  these, 
out  of  an  awe  and  veneration  ;  or  whether  they  have  stood 
thus  long  by  virtue  of  some  peculiar  firmness  in  the  nature 
of  their  fabric  [the  most  likely  supposition]  ;  or  whether 
some  occult  Providence  has  preserved  them,  as  so  many 
standing  monuments  of  Christianity  in  these  unbelieving  re¬ 
gions,  and  presages  of  its  future  restoration,  I  will  not  de¬ 
termine.  This  only  I  will  say,  that  we  found  it,  in  fact,  so 
as  I  have  described,  in  all  the  ruined  churches  that  came  in 
our  way,  being  perhaps  not  fewer  than  one  hundred ;  nor 
do  I  remember  ever  to  have  seen  one  instance  to  the  con¬ 
trary.  This  might  justly  seem  a  trifling  observation,  were 
it  founded  upon  a  few  examples  only ;  but  it  being  a  thing 
so  often,  and,  indeed,  universally  observed  by  us,  throughout 
our  whole  journey,  I  thought  it  must  needs  proceed  from 
something  more  than  blind  chance,  and  might  very  well  de¬ 
serve  this  animadversion.”! 

And  it  does  well  deserve  notice,  and  animadversion  too. 
Whatever  be  its  cause,  the  fact  is  as  striking  as  it  is  true. 
Of  such  walls  of  churches  in  regions  not  visited  by  Maun- 
drell,  the  reader  has  already  heard,  and  of  niches  for  stat¬ 
ues  still  visible  where  altars  have  been  overthrown.  The 
eyes  of  the  Lord  are  set  continually  upon  the  land ;  and  it 
is  justly  said  that  the  remarkable  fact,  as  Maundrell  thought, 
must  proceed  from  something  more  than  blind  chance.  Not 
a  sparrow  can  fall  to  the  ground  without  the  Father.  It  was 
not  without  him  that  hundreds,  or,  rather,  thousands  of 
churches  fell  in  Syria ;  and  it  was  not  by  chance,  we  may 
well  say,  that  the  only  part,  if  any,  that  alike  in  all  uniform- 

*  Maundrell’s  Travels,  p.  176,  177.  May  9.  t  Ibid.,  p.  65,  66.  March  20. 


324  RUINS  IN  THE  NORTH  OF  SYRIA, 

iy  Stood,  was  that  which  showed,  and  shows  as  a  witness 
still,  that  each  church  which  fell  had  an  altar,  if  not,  also, 
each  altar  a  niche.  Maundrell,  a  most  correct  observer  of 
facts,  looked  on  Samaria  without  seeing  or  noting  the  ful¬ 
filment  of  any  of  the  striking  predictions  concerning  it. 
Had  he  regarded  the  prophecy  which  assigns  the  cause  of 
all  the  predicted  desolations,  even  Because  they  have  changed 
the  ordinance  and  broken  the  everlasting  covenant,  therefore 
hath  the  curse  devoured  the  earth,  and  they  that  dwell  there¬ 
in  are  desolate,*  &c.,  he  might  have  laid  vain  conjectures 
aside,  and  have  looked^  on  the  only  standing  wall  of  each 
fallen  church  amid  desolate  cities  as  a  monument  and  me¬ 
morial  of  the  fact. 

In  journeying  from  Antioch  to  Aleppo,  Captains  Irby  and 
Mangles  “  passed  many  sites  of  ancient  towns,  castles,  banks, 
temples,  all  of  the  lower  empire,  and  very  uninterest¬ 
ing  :  on  one  occasion  they  counted  eleven  sites  in  a  rich 
plain,  with  a  firm  loamy  soil,  now  left  desolate  and  unin¬ 
habited.”! 

But,  reverting  to  the  cities  nearer  to  the  ancient  borders 
of  Israel,  w’^e  may  trace  them  in  their  ruins  from  south  to 
north,  so  far  as  these  have  been  discovered  and  are  most 
worthy  of  notice,  though  a  transient  view  is  all  that  can  be 
taken. 

The  banks  of  the  Orontes  were  adorned  with  other  noble 
cities  besides  Antioch.  Near  its  source,  Mr.  Buckingham 
saw,  at  a  distance  of  about  three  miles,  a  ruined  town  (El- 
Jussee),  said  to  be  a  large  city,  with  pillars,  aqueducts,  and 
castles,  but  now  entirely  deserted.  About  two  miles  below 
it,  on  the  plain,  was  another  town,  which  retained  some  in¬ 
habitants-! 

In  the  valley  of  Bekaa  stand  the  noble  ruins  of  the  ancient 
Baalhec  (Heliopolis,  or  Baalath  of  Scripture).  Neither  in 
a  general  view  of  the  ruins  of  Syria,  nor  in  a  prospective 
view  of  the  restoration  of  the  kingdom  to  Israel,  are  they  to 
be  overlooked,  though  comparatively  well  Imown.  Many 
other  cities,  when  raised  again,  shall  be  numbered  for  the 
first  time  among  the  cities  of  that  kingdom,  as  the  throne  of 
David  had  fallen  before  the  stones  which  formed  them  were 
taken  from  their  original  quarry  ;  but,  built  as  it  was  by  Sol¬ 
omon,  Baalbec  has  a  prescriptive  title  to  a  place  in  the  king- 

*  Isa.,  xxiv.,  5.  t  Travels,  p.  231. 

t  Buckingham’s  Travels  among  the  Arab  Tribes,  p.  490. 


BEYOND  THE  ANCIENT  BORDERS  OF  ISRAEL.  325 

dom  ;  and  its  columns,  worthy  of  a  world’s  fame,  and  its  tem¬ 
ple  walls  a  world’s  wonder,  still  stand  to  adorn  a  city  of  Is¬ 
rael,  even  while  its  everlasting  columns  endure,  and  the  cov¬ 
enant  of  the  Lord  shall  stand  fast  with  his  people,  as  his  or¬ 
dinance  shall  stand  with  the  sun,  to  the  worship  of  which,  in 
pagan  times,  which  these  pillars  have  outlived,  Heliopolis, 
as  the  name  imports,  was  dedicated. 

Burckhardt  and  Buckingham  decline  the  description  of  its 
ruins,  because  the  task,  to  which  his  graphic  powers  were 
equal,  had  been  so  well  and  so  faithfully  executed  by  Vol- 
ney.  His  description,  though  familiar  to  some,  may  be  part- 
ly  given,  for  the  sake  of  other  readers.  An  infidel  may  de¬ 
scribe  a  pagan  temple,  and  yet  the  glory  may  redound,  as 
yet  it  shall,  to  the  Holy  One  of  Israel,  who  has  placed  such 
ruins  within  the  heritage  of  Jacob. 

“  At  the  entrance  of  the  city  (Baalbec)  we  perceive  a  ru¬ 
ined  wall,  flanked  with  square  towers,  which  ascends  the 
declivity  to  the  right,  and  traces  the  precincts  of  the  ancient 
city.  Over  this  wall,  which  is  only  10  or  12  feet  high,  we 
have  a  view  of  those  void  spaces,  and  heaps  of  ruins  which 
are  the  invariable  appendage  of  every  Turkish  city  ;  but  what 
principally  attracts  our  attention  is  a  large  edifice  on  the  left, 
which,  by  its  lofty  walls  and  rich  columns,  manifestly  ap¬ 
pears  to  be  one  of  those  temples  which  antiquity  has  left  for 
our  admiration.  These  ruins,  which  are  among  the  most 
beautiful,  and  in  the  best  preservation  of  any  in  Asia,  de¬ 
serve  to  be  particularly  mentioned. 

“  To  form  a  just  idea  of  them,  we  must  conceive  ourselves 
descending  from  the  interior  of  the  town.  After  crossing 
the  rubbish  and  huts  with  which  it  is  filled,  we  arrive  at  a 
vacant  place  which  appears  to  have  been  a  square  ;  there, 
in  front  towards  the  west;,  we  perceive  a  grand  view,  con¬ 
sisting  of  two  pavilions  ornamented  with  pilasters,  joined  at 
their  bottom  angle  by  a  wall  160  feet  in  length.  This  front 
commands  the  open  country  from  a  sort  of  terrace,  on  the 
edge  of  which  we  distinguish  with  difficulty  the  bases  of 
twelve  columns,  which  formerly  extended  from  one  pavilion 
to  the  other,  and  formed  a  portico.  The  principal  gate  is 
obstructed  by  heaps  of  stones  ;  but  that  obstacle  surmounted, 
we  enter  an  empty  space  which  is  an  hexagonal  court  of 
180  feet  diameter.  This  court  is  strewed  with  broken  col¬ 
umns,  mutilated  capitals,  and  the  remains  of  pilasters,  entab¬ 
latures,  and  cornices ;  around  it  is  a  row  of  ruined  edifices, 

E  E 


326  RUINS  IN  THE  NORTH  OF  SYRIA, 

which  display  all  the  ornaments  of  the  richest  architecture. 
At  the  end  of  this  court  we  perceive  a  still  more  extensive 
range  of  ruins,  whose  magnificence  strongly  excites  curios¬ 
ity.  To  have  a  full  prospect  of  these,  we  must  ascend  a 
slope,  which  led  by  steps  to  this  gate,  and  we  then  arrive 
at  the  entrance  of  a  square  court  much  more  spacious  than 
the  former  (350  feet  wide,  and  336  long).  The  end  of  this 
court  first  attracts  the  eye,  where  six  enormous  and  majes- 
tie  columns  render  the  scene  amazingly  grand  and  pictu¬ 
resque.  Another  object,  not  less  interesting,  is  a  second 
range  of  columns  to  the  left,  which  appear  to  have  been  part 
of  the  peristyle  of  a  temple  ;  but,  before  we  pass  thither,  the 
edifices  which  enclose  this  court  on  each  side  demand  par¬ 
ticular  attention.  They  form  a  sort  of  gallery  which  con¬ 
tains  various  chambers,  seven  of  which  may  be  reckoned  in 
each  of  the  principal  wings,  viz.,  two  in  a  semicircle,  and 
five  in  an  oblong  square.  The  bottoms  of  these  apartments 
still  retain  pediments  of  niches  and  tabernacles,  the  sup¬ 
porters  of  which  are  destroyed.  At  length  we  arrive  at  the 
foot  of  the  six  columns,  and  there  first  conceive  all  the  bold¬ 
ness  of  their  elevation,  and  the  richness  of  their  workman¬ 
ship.  Their  shafts  are  21  feet  8  inches  in  circumference, 
and  58  high,  so  that  the  total  height,  including  the  entabla¬ 
tures,  is  from  71  to  72  feet.  The  sight  of  this  superb  ruin, 
thus  solitary  and  unaccompanied,  at  first  strikes  us  with  as¬ 
tonishment  ;  but  in  a  more  attentive  examination  we  discov¬ 
er  a  series  of  foundations,  which  mark  an  oblong  square  of 
268  feet  in  length  and  146  wide,  and  which,  it  seems  prob¬ 
able,  was  the  peristyle  of  a  grand  temple,  the  original  pur¬ 
pose  of  this  whole  structure.  It  presented  to  the  great  court 
— that  is,  to  the  east — a  front  of  10  columns,  with  19  on 
each  side,  which,  with  the  other  six,  make  in  all  54.  The 
ground  on  which  it  stood  was  an  oblong  square,  in  a  level 
with  this  court,  but  narrower  than  it,  so  that  there  was  only 
a  terrace  of  twenty  seven  feet  wide  round  the  colonnade. 
The  esplanade  this  produces  fronts  the  open  country,  towards 
the  west,  by  a  sloping  wall  of  about  thirty  feet.  This  de¬ 
scent,  as  you  approach  the  city,  becomes  less  steep,  so  that 
the  foundation  of  the  pavilion  is  on  a  level  with  the  ter¬ 
mination  of  the  hill,  whence  it  is  evident  that  the  whole 
ground  of  the  courts  has  been  raised  by  art.  Such  was  the 
former  state  of  this  edifice  ;  but  the  southern  side  of  the 
grand  temple  was  afterward  blocked  up  to  build  a  smaller 


BEYOND  THE  ANCIENT  BORDERS  OF  ISRAEL.  327 

one,' the  peristyle  and  walls  of  which  still  remain.  This 
temple,  situated  some  feet  lower  than  the  other,  presents  a 
side  of  13  columns  by  8  in  front  (in  all  34),  which  are  like¬ 
wise  of  the  Corinthian  order ;  their  shafts  are  15  feet  8  inch¬ 
es  in  circumference,  and  44  in  height.  The  building  they 
surround  is  an  oblong  square,  the  front  of  which,  facing  the 
east,  is  out  of  the  line  of  the  left  wing  of  the  great  court. 
To  reach  it,  you  must  cross  trunks  of  columns,  heaps  of 
stone,  and  a  ruinous  wall  which  now  hides  it.  Having  sur¬ 
mounted  these  obstacles,  you  arrive  at  the  gate,  where  you 
may  survey  the  enclosure  which  was  once  inhabited  by  a 
god  j  but,  instead  of  the  awful  scene  of  a  prostrate  people, 
and  a  multitude  of  priests  offering  sacrifices,  the  sky,  which 
is  open  from  the  falling  in  of  the  roof,  only  admits  light  to 
show  a  chaos  of  ruins,  covered  with  dust  and  weeds.  The 
walls,  formerly  encircled  with  all  the  ornaments  of  the  Co¬ 
rinthian  order,  now  present  nothing  but  pediments  of  niches, 
and  tabernacles,  of  which  almost  all  the  supporters  are  fall¬ 
en  to  the  ground.  Between  these  niches  is  a  range  of  flu¬ 
ted  pilasters,  whose  capitals  sustain  a  broken  entablature, 
but  what  remains  of  it  displays  a  rich  frieze  of  foliage,  rest¬ 
ing  on  the  heads  of  satyrs,  horses,  bulls,  &c.  Over  this  en¬ 
tablature  was  the  ancient  roof,  which  was  57  feet  wide  and 
110  in  length.  The  walls  by  which  it  was  supported  are 
31  feet  high,  and  without  a  window.  We  can  form  no  idea 
of  the  ornaments  of  this  roof,  except  from  the  fragments  ly¬ 
ing  on  the  ground ;  but  it  could  not  have  been  richer  than 
the  gallery  of  the  peristyle.  Nothing  can  surpass  the  work¬ 
manship  of  the  columns ;  they  are  joined  without  any  ce¬ 
ment,  yet  there  is  not  room  for  the  blade  of  a  knife  between 
their  interstices.  After  so  many  ages  they  in  general  retain 
their  original  whiteness.  But  what  is  still  more  astonish¬ 
ing  is  the  enormous  stones  which  composed  the  sloping  wall. 
To  the  west  the  second  layer  is  formed  of  stones  which  are 
from  28  to  35  feet  long,  by  about  nine  in  height.  Over  this 
layer,  at  the  northwest  angle,  there  are  three  stones  which 
alone  occupy  a  space  of  175|^  feet,  viz.,  the  first,  58  feet  7 
inches  ;  the  second,  58  feet  1 1 ;  and  the  third,  exactly  58 
feet,  and  each  of  these  is  12  feet  thick.  A  stone  still  lies 
there,  hewn  on  three  sides,  which  is  69  feet  2  inches  long, 
12  feet  10  inches  broad,  and  13  feet  3  inches  in  thickness. 
By  what  means  could  the  ancients  move  these  masses  ? 
This  is,  no  doubt,  a  problem  in  mechanics  curious  to  re- 


328 


RUINS  IN  THE  NORTH  OF  SYRIA, 


solve.*'  “  Three  of  the  stones,”  says  Maundrell,  “  we  tooli 
the  pains  to  measure,  and  found  them  to  extend  sixty-one 
yards  in  length  ;  one,  twenty-one  ;  the  other  two,  each  twen¬ 
ty  yards.  These  three  stones  lay  in  the  same  row,  end  to 
end.  The  rest  of  the  wall  was  made  also  of  great  stones, 
but  none,  I  think,  so  great  as  these.  That  which  added  to 
the  wonder  was,  that  these  stones  were  lifted  up  into  the 
wall  more  than  twenty  feet  from  the  ground.”! 

If  from  the  grave  of  Cassarea  or  the  heaps  that  cover  it, 
marble  baths  could  be  constructed  and  a  palace  be  adorned, 
and  if  a  trifling  repair,  at  slight  expense,  would  suffice  for 
the  restoration  of  the  magnificent  port  of  Caesarea,  that  has 
been  choked  with  sand  and  lashed  with  waves  for  ages, 
surely  the  masses  of  ruins  that  cover  Baalbec  shall  not  lie 
forever  undisturbed.  If  new  arts  were  needed  for  their  res¬ 
toration  instead  of  those  that  would  seem  to  be  lost,  they 
are  not  now  wanting ;  for  new  powers,  which  heathens 
knew  not,  are  now  in  operation  for  the  construction  of  edi¬ 
fices,  sufficient,  if  needful,  to  raise,  as  feathers,  burdens 
which  a  thousand  slaves  could  not  bear.  The  wondrous 
walls  which,  for  so  many  ages,  have  witnessed  pagan  wor¬ 
ship  and  an  apostate  faith,  have  not  stood  so  long  in  vain, 
but  shall  yet  resound  to  holier  strains,  and  Heliopolis  (the 
city  of  the  sun)  be  a  city  on  which  the  Sun  of  righteousness 
shall  shine,  and  the  Holy  One  of  Israel  be  adored.  And  those 
noble  and  beauteous  pillars,  on  which  such  admirable  work 
has  been  wrought  by  human  hands,  which  yet  stand  around 
a  fallen  temple,  erected  in  honour  of  false  gods,  whose' broken 
images  are  strewed  on  its  base,  may  be  looked  on  as  the  em¬ 
blem  of  a  nobler  workmanship  than  that  of  man,  and  of  the  ful¬ 
filment  of  a  better  promise  than  ever  pagans  knew  :  Him  that 
overcometh  will  I  make  a  'pillar  in  the  temple  of  my  God,  and 
I  will  write  upon  him  the  name  of  the  city  of  my  God.^ 

“  In  the  days  of  paganism  both  Emesa  and  Heliopolis 
were  addicted  to  the  worship  of  Baal,  or  the  sun  ;  but  the 
decline  of  their  superstition  and  splendour  has  been  marked 
by  a  singular  variety  of  fortune.  Not  a  vestige  remains  of 
the  temple  of  Emesa,  which  was  equalled  in  poetic  style  to 
the  summits  of  Mount  Libanus,  while  the  ruins  of  Baalbec, 
invisible  to  the  writers  of  antiquity,  excite  the  curiosity  and 
wonder  of  the  European  traveller.”*^  It  is  with  the  cities 

*  Volney’s  Travels,  chap,  xxix.,  English  trans.  t  Maundrell,  p.  156. 

X  Rev.,  iii.,  12.  Gibbon,  vol.  ix.,  c.  li.,  p.  404. 


r 

BEYOND  THE  AN'CIENT  BORDERS  OF  ISRAEL.  S29 

I 

I  as  with  the  land  of  Israel — a  few  gleaning  grapes  are  left 
when  the  vintage  is  past — two  or  three  berries  on  the  utmost 
i;  bough,  when  the  olive  has  been  shaken.  Many  other  cit¬ 
ies  of  Syria  were  in  ancient  times  far  more  ]|^nowned  than 
Baalbec,  which  claims  a  first  place  among  ruins.  It  stands 
so  far  as  yet  erect,  a  witness  of  what  was  ;  and,  without 
such  ocular  demonstration  of  their  ancient  magnificence, 
the  records  of  their  greatness  might  have  ranked  among  fab¬ 
ulous  tales,  were  not  the  structure  of  an  ancient  wall  a  prob¬ 
lem  to  the  moderns.  But  a  variety  of  fortune,  no  less  sin¬ 
gular  than  that  noted  by  Gibbon,  Jias  marked,  in  a  different 
manner,  the  checkered  fate  of  Emesa  and  Heliopolis,  now 
Homs  and  Baalbec.  While  the  latter  has  scarcely  an  inhab¬ 
itant,  the  former  has  its  thousands.  Siege  after  siege,  and 
earthquake  after  earthquake,  have  laid  its  glory  in  the  dust, 
till  its  great  temple  must  be  sought  for  in  the  ground,  with- 
I  out  a  vestige  to  guide  the  digger  of  its  grave.  “  No  more 
remains,”  says  Mr.  Buckingham,  “  of  the  ancient  city  of 
Emesa,  than  perhaps  the  basework  of  the  castle,  a  sepul- 
i  chral  monument,  and  some  granite  columns  and  stone  sar- 
1  cophagi,  scattered  up  and  down,  and  sometimes  used  in  the 
construction  of  the  more  modern  buildings.  The  population 
of  the  town  is  thought  to  amount  to  10,000,  of  whom  8000 
are  Moslems.”* 

i  But  Emesa  has  still  a  monument  and  memorial  of  its 
strength,  and  of  the  vast  expenditure  of  wealth  and  labour 
at  which  cities  of  Syria  in  ancient  times  were  fortified  or 
adorned.  “  The  castle  (see  Plate)  stands  on  a  high,  artifi¬ 
cial  mound  of  earth,  the  sides  of  which  were  originally  cased 
all  round  with  masonry,  rising  in  a  steep  slope,  resembling 
!i  the  lower  part  of  a  pyramid.  It  was  surrounded  by  a  broad 

!  and  deep  ditch,  lined  also  with  a  wall  of  stone.  It  is  now 

entirely  ruined. ”t  The  mound,  faced  with  stone,  is  encom- 
|!  passed  by  a  fosse  twenty  feet  deep  and  one  hundred  broad, 
i  over  which  is  a  bridge  of  several  arches.  The  top  of  the 

;  hill  may  be  half  a  mile  in  circumference. J 

I'  The  ruins  of  a  very  large  convent,  as  seen  by  Pococke, 
[>art  of  the  walls,  the  line  of  the  streets,  and  the  pedestals  oi 
some  columns  at  Restoun,  seem  to  mark  the  site,  of  the  an¬ 
cient  Aretliusia.^ 

*  Buckingham’s  Travels,  p.  496,  497.  t  Ibid.,  p.  494, 

i  Mr.  Robinson’s  Travels,  vol.  ii.,  p.  241. 
i>  Pococke,  p.  142.  Irby  and  Mangles,  p.  254. 

E  E  2 


830  RTINS  m  THE  NORTH  OF  SYRIA, 

A  few  ruined  habitations  beside  the  castle  Medyk,  a  mosque 
enclosed  by  a  wall,  and  several  columns  scattered  about,  are 
supposed  to  occupy  the  site  of  Apamea,  which,  as  a  sister 
city,  ranked  '^ith  Antioch  and  Seleucia. 

Maarah,  which  stayed  the  march  of  Crusaders,  and  tempt¬ 
ed  its  victor  to  remain,  has  nothing  but  a  khan  or  tempora¬ 
ry  lodging-place  to  attract  the  notice  of  the  passing  travel¬ 
ler,  and  its  towers  and  walls,  razed  to  their  foundations  in 
the  beginning  of  the  twelfth  century,*  yet  lie  as  they  were 
cast  down,  level  with  the  ground.  A  poor  little  village  bears 
the  name  of  Maarah. f  .A  century  ago  were  to  be  seen  a 
beautiful  square  tower  of  hewn  stone,  and  a  little  ruin  of  a 
very  old  church,  not  mentioned  by  recent  travellers. J 

Between  Maarah  and  Aleppo  are  several  sites  of  ancient 
towns.  The  mountain  of  Richa  is  full  of  the  ruins  of  cities.*^ 
Near  to  the  village  of  El-Bara  are  the  ruins  of  what  Mr. 
Drummond  denotes  “  a  once  glorious  city,  fully  as  large  as 
Aleppo,  and  greatly  superior  to  it  in  point  of  magnificence, 
as  then  appeared  by  the  ruins.  Here  have  been  several 
churches  highly  ornamented,  particularly  one  which  was 
very  large  ;  great  numbers  of  columns  were  then  to  be  seen, 
with  many  pyramidal  monuments.”  In  a  grotto  (or  sepul¬ 
chre)  near  the  ruins  “  was  an  episcopal  figure  with  his  cro¬ 
sier  in  his  right  hand,  and  on  each  side  of  him  was  an  angel 
holding  a  laurel  wreath  in  one  hand  and  an  olive-branch  in 
the  other. ”11  In  the  immediate  vicinity  of  the  town  Burck- 
hardt  met  with  a  sepulchral  cave  with  an  inscrip¬ 
tion.  The  annexed  figure,  in  relief,  was  over  it. 

“We  saw,”  he  adds,  “  the  same  figure,  with  vari¬ 
ations,  over  the  gates  of  several  buildings  of  these 
ruins  ;  the  episcopal  staff  is  found  in  all  of  them. 

The  town  walls  on  the  east  side  are  yet  standing ;  they  are 
very  neatly  built  with  small  stones.  The  ruins  extend  for 
about  half  an  hour  from  south  to  north,  and  consist  of  a  num¬ 
ber  of  public  buildings,  churches,  and  private  habitations,  the 
walls  and  roof  of  some  of  which  are  still  standing.”^  But* 
the  episcopal  city,  as  it  would  seem  to  have  been,  though  of 
unknown  name,  must  have  fallen  greatly  into  decay  since  it 
was  visited  by  Pococke  and  Drummond,  for  Burckhardt  saw 
no  building  worth  noticing  except  three  tombs.  Whatever 
city  it  may  have  been,  situated  in  a  rugged  mountain,  the 

*  See  above,  p.  178.  t  Mr.  Robinson’s  Trav.,  vol.  ii.,  p.  248. 

t  Pococke,  p.  144.  i)  Burckhardt,  p.  130. 

II  Drummond’s  Trav.,p.  235.  ^  Burckhardt,  p.  130,  131. 


1  BEYOND  THE  ANCIENT  BORDERS  OF  ISRAEL.  331 

:  supposed  seat  of  anchorites,  the  laurel  and  the  olive-branch 

^  were  there  carved  in  vain  in  the  hands  of  graven  angels, 
i  and  the  city  has  met  a  fate  of  which  these  are  not  the  em¬ 
blems.  It  has  followed  Chorazin. 

But,  though  the  ruins  near  El-Bara  might  recently  have 
shown  that  it  had  once  been  a  city  larger  and  more  magnifi¬ 
cent  than  Aleppo,  the  ancient  greatness  of  many  cities  of 
Syria,  like  the  desolate  Caesarea,  cannot  be  judged  of  by  what 
they  are,  nor  can  the  richness  of  the  ancient  produce  of  the 
regions  around  them  be  known  by  what  is  now  to  be  seen. 
Of  these  truths,  the  once  famous  Calchis,  or  Kinnesrin,  may 
supply  an  illustration — one  instance  out  of  hundreds. 

Calchis,  in  remote  ages  the  Zobah  (Aram-Zobah)  of  the 
Hebrews,  was  the  capital  of  the  province  of  Calcidine,  to 
which  it  gave  its  name.  Its  opulence  and  the  fertility  of 
j  the  circumjacent  territory  are  manifest  by  the  tax  or  redeem- 
j  ing  tribute  which  it  paid  to  the  Saracens,  including,  besides 
:  four  hundred -weight  of  silver  and  as  much  of  gold,  and  two 

thousand  robes  of  silk,  five  thousand  ass-loads  of  figs  and 
olives.  “  I  surveyed  its  vestiges,”  says  Mr.  Drummond,  “  for 
I  cannot  call  them  ruins,  as  nothing  like  a  house  is  seen 
standing ;  though  we  found  many  great  squared  stones  and 
foundations,  particularly  those  of  walls,  which  are  nine  [or, 
as  stated  by  Pococke,  about  ten]  feet  thick,  and  occupy  a 
great  extent  of  space.  The  castle,  or  citadel,  has  covered 
a  very  large  hill  adjoining  to  the  city,  and  was  surrounded 
by  a  double  wall.”*  All  is  a  confused  heap  of  ruins. f 
“  From  the  castle-hill  we  enjoyed  a  delightful  view  of  the 
champaign  country,  extending  to  a  prodigious  distance  all 
j  around ;  but  not  one  fiftieth  part  of  it  was  cultivated.”]; 

'  Different  was  the  view  in  the  sight  of  David,  and  afterward 

of  Solomon,  from  the  hill  of  Zobah,  when  the  golden  shields 
I  of  the  servants  of  Hadad-ezer  lay  at  their  feet,  or  were  sus- 
I  pended  in  the  palace  of  Jerusalem  as  a  trophy  of  the  victo¬ 
ry  of  Zion’s  king ;  and  different,  too,  shall  be  the  view  from 
J  the  hill  of  Zobah,  when  all  the  enemies  of  the  Son  of  David 
shall  be  subdued  before  him,  and  the  kingdom  be  restored 
I  to  Israel,  and  Calcidine  shall  be  given,  not  to  the  sons  of 
Ishmael  for  a  prey,  but  to  the  sons  of  Isaac  in  everlasting 
possession,  for  each  man  to  sit  under  his  own  vine  and  under 
his  fig-tree. 


*  Drummond’s  Trav.,  p.  235. 
t  Drummond’s  Trav.,  p.  236. 


t  Pococke,  p.  149. 


332 


RUINS  IN  THE  NORTH  OF  SYRIA, 


Harem  was  a  strong  fortress  in  the  days  of  the  Crusaders, 
when  it  suffered  many  a  fierce  siege,  and  was  the  scene  of 
many  a  bloody  strife,  as  its  possession  was  contested  by  the 
alternate  lords  of  Syria.  In  last  century,  the  remains  of  a 
palace  and  many  good  edifices,  the  castle  upon  the  top  of  a 
hill,  the  ascent  of  which  was  paved  with  square  hewn  stones, 
a  neat  chapel  excavated  from  the  rock,  a  pretty  belfry,  and 
the  remains  of  outworks  surrounding  the  whole,*  showed 
that  it  had  been  a  residence  worthy  of  princes,  who  often 
sought  shelter  within  its  walls.  The  frequent  foundations 
and  ruins  of  villages  testify  to  the  ancient  populousness  of 
the  adjoining  territory.  We  have  seen  how  it  resisted  the 
assaults  of  the  King  of  Jerusalem,  and  how  many  princes 
and  nobles,  with  the  King  of  Armenia,  strove  in  vain  to  de¬ 
liver  it  when  besieged  by  Noureddin.  A  different  tale  has 
now  to  be  told ;  and  it  has  ceased,  as  it  now  is,  to  be  “  an 
agreeable  place.”  “  It  is  now,”  as  described  by  Mr.  Rob¬ 
inson,  “  a  complete  ruin,  and  the  only  place  affording  shel¬ 
ter  was  a  stable,  to  obtain  possession  of  which,  we  were 
obliged  to  turn  out  some  poor  gipsies,  called  here  Kurphadh  ; 
these  Kurphadh  are  spread  over  the  whole  of  Anadolia  and 
Syria.  We  were  sufficiently  punished  for  this  act  of  injus¬ 
tice  by  the  restless  night  we  spent,  it  being  impossible  to 
get  any  sleep,  owing  to  the  swarms  of  fleas  which  infested 
the  place.”!  When  visited  by  Mr.  Buckingham  in  1816, 
Harem  was  inhabited  by  about  twenty  Mohammedan  fami¬ 
lies,  governed*by  their  own  sheik.  The  castle  stands  on 
the  summit  of  an  oblong  pyramidal  mound,  exactly  like  that 
of  Homs,  and  like  it,  too,  cased  with  stone  in  the  sides. 
Near  to  Harem  he  saw  a  considerable  number  of  scattered 
fragments  of  former  buildings,  and  on  an  eminence  near 
this  stood  the  portion  of  a  small  font  more  complete.  The 
base  was  formed  of  very  large  stones  and  good  masonry, 
and  in  a  lower  doorway  was  a  fine  Roman  arch  still  perfect. 
“  On  these  foundations  was  erected  a  modern  building,  ap¬ 
pearing  to  have  been  deserted  in  an  unfinished  state  ;  for, 
though  prepared  for  a  pent  roof,  none  had  ever  been  put  on 
it.  Such  trifling  features  are  too  characteristic  of  the  coun¬ 
try  and  its  government  to  be  omitted ;  for  here  it  may  be 
said,  with  the  strictest  propriety,  that  he  who  begins  to  build 
a  house  knows  not  whether  himself  or  another  shall  finish 
it,  and  that  he  who  sows  is  not  always  sure  of  reaping. 

*  Drummond’s  Trav.,  p.  182.  t  Robinson’s  Travels,  vol.  ii.,  p.  972, 


BEYOND  THE  ANCIENT  BORDERS  OF  ISRAEL.  333 


.Large  hewn  blocks,  some  sculptured  stones,  &c.,  continued 
to  line  our  road  to  nearly  half  a  mile,  and  half  an  hour  be¬ 
yond  their  discontinuance  we  passed  through  other  ruins  of 
a  similar  kind.”* 

Corns,  the  Cyrrus  of  Ptolemy,  and  in  later  ages  Kyros, 
a  metropolitan  see,  of  which  Theodoret  was  bishop,  was  the 
capital  of  the  province  of  Cyrrestice,  in  which  were  nine¬ 
teen  cities.  The  ruined  metropolis  shows  some  signs  that 
it  was  once  a  noble  city.  It  stood  upon  the  plain  surface  of 
a  hill,  the  site  of  the  castle  being  the  summit  of  a  higher. 
From  the  foundations  of  the  walls  that  still  remain,  the  cas¬ 
tle*  and  the  city  seem  to  have  been  very  large,  walled  very 
strongly  with  huge  square  stones.  Within  are  observable 
the  ruins,  pillars,  &c.,  of  many  noble  buildings,  among  which 
it  is  doubtful  if  the  cathedral  be  distinguishable.  The  whole 
is  now  in  ruins. t  There  is  reason  to  believe  that  every 
house  was  built  of  excellent  well-polished  square  stones, 
which  may  be  called  a  sort  of  marble.^  One  noble  square 
building,  of  great  capacity,  was  encompassed  with  good 
walls,  having  five  gates.  A  noble  row  of  pillars,  of  great 
length,  led  to  another  grand  building,  now  of  undefinable 
form.  But  there  are  the  remains  of  a  very  superb  theatre, 
built  in  good  taste,  the  front  of  which  extends  to  seventy- 
two  yards. ^ 

Among  the  cities  of  Cyrrestice,  Hierapolis  had  a  place. || 
Strabo  relates  that  Bambyce  was  called  Hierapolis,  and  that 
Atargatis,  the  Syrian  goddess,  was  worshipped  there. ^ 
Pliny,  in  like  manner,  states  that  Bambyce  was  called  by 
another  name,  Hierapolis,  and  by  the  Syrians  Magog,  where 
the  monstrous  Atargatis  (prodigiosa  Atargatis)**  was  wor¬ 
shipped. ft  Of  the  once  famous  city  of  Bambyce,  the  chief 
scene  of  the  worship  of  a  heathen  god  or  goddess,  nothing 
but  “  miserable  vestiges”  are  to  be  seen.  But  these  show 
that  it  was  full  three  miles  in  circumference,  surrounded  by 
walls  extremely  well  built,  of  fine  polished  stone  both  inside 
and  out,  some  parts  of  which,  as  seen  by  Pococke,  then  re¬ 
mained  entire,  nine  feet  thick,  and  above  thirty  feet  high. 
The  wall  was  defended  by  towers  at  the  distance  of  fifty 

*  Buckingham,  p.  569.  t  Maundrell,  p.  211. 

-  i  Drummond’s  Trav.,  p.  201.  1)  Ibid.  II  See  above,  p.  5  j. 

IT  f)  BafjLdvKT] ' lepavKoXiv  KoXovatv,  sv  ripaxri  tt]v  'Hvpiav  deov  rrjv  ' A-Tapyariv. — 
Strabo,  lib.  xvi.,  p.  1062. 

**  So  called,  in  nil  likelihood,  from  her  monstrous  fom,  the  head  of  a  woman  and 
the  body  of  a  fish,  the  reputed  mother  of  the  goda< 


•  334 


RUINS  IN  THE  NORTH  OF  SYRIA, 


paces  from  each  other.  The  four  gates  of  the  city  were 
about  fifteen  feet  wide,  and  defended  by  a  semicircular  tow¬ 
er  on  each  side.  But  here,  as  throughout  the  land,  the  Lord 
has  made  of  a  city  a  heap — of  a  dcfenced  city  a  ruin.  The 
few  travellers  who  have  visited  it  may  doubt  or  dispute,  as 
concerning  Corns,  about  the  site  of  a  temple,  or  a  theatre, 
or  a  pagan  or  papal  altar.  Its  magnificence  is  gone,  but 
the  polished  stones  remain  ;  and  although  not  only  Cilicia 
and  Cappadocia,  but  even  Arabia  and  Babylonia,  contributed 
to  the  support  of  its  magnificent  temple,  the  Lord  hath  fam¬ 
ished  Atargatis  (Ashteroth),  “the  abomination  of  the  Sido- 
nians,”  even  as  he  will  famish  all  the  gods  of  the  earth* 
But  the  tribute  may  be  turned  to  Israel  at  last,  and  all  that 
remains  of  Bambyce,  the  polished  stones  of  its  walls,  its 
temples,  its  theatres,  and  its  houses,  razed  from  their  found¬ 
ations,  may  be  formed  into  a  city,  which,  like  the  horses’ 
bells  in  Jerusalem,  shall  be  holiness  to  the  Lordf  and  Hi- 
erapolis  (a  holy  city)  be  at  last  worthy  of  its  name. 

Jerahees,  on  the  banks  of  the  Euphrates,  w^hich  had  prob¬ 
ably  its  name  from  the  worship  of  the  Syrian  god  Jerabolus, 
is  now,  like  the  very  grave  of  idolatry,  an  oblong  field  of 
ruins,  distinguished  only  by  the  higher  elevation,  as  in  oth¬ 
er  idolatrous  cities,  of  the  supposed  sites  of  a  temple,  church¬ 
es,  or  other  public  buildings, J  the  fit  monuments  of  a  worship 
that,  over  all  the  world,  shall  perish  forever,  when  the  cities 
of  Israel  shall  be  raised  again,  and  the  Euphrates  be  the 
border  of  a  land  that  shall  then  be  a  blessing  in  the  midst  of 
the  earth.^ 

At  Utch-Kilesi  three  churches  are  the  ruins  of  houses 
which  had  once  been  edifices  of  some  pretensions.  Even 
in  passing  over  an  inhospitable  district,  the  traveller  con¬ 
stantly  discovers  traces  of  early  Christianity — ecclesiastical 
and  monastic  edifices,  often  of  great  beauty  ;  remains  of 
large  villages,  with  deep  cisterns  and  reservoirs  hewn  out  of 
the  solid  rock.|l 

All  that  remains  of  the  once  celebrated  city  of  Samoeisat, 
on  the  northeastern  extremity  of  Syria,  the  seat  of  the  King 
of  Cornmagena,  and  an  episcopal  city  in  the  Middle  Ages,  is 
a  partly  artificial  mound,  and  the  fragmentary  remains  cf  a 
castle  on  its  summit.  The  modern  town  is  a  poor  place  ol 
about  four  hundred  houses. *f| 

*  Zech.,  ii..  11.  t  Ibid.,  xiv.,  20.  t  Pococke,  p.  165.  ^  Isii  ,  xix.,  24 

[I  Travels,  vol.  i.,  p.  *286-7  laid.,  285 


BEYOND  THE  ANCIENT  BORDERS  OF  ISRAEL.  335  • 

While,  on  the  east  of  the  Jordan,  towns  ruined  or  desert¬ 
ed  have  recently  been  disclosed  to  view  in  far  greater  num¬ 
bers  than  were  ever  recorded  by  Grecian  or  Roman  geog¬ 
raphers,  man}/  cities  were  enumerated  by  them,  or  had 
their  place  in  the  lists  of  episcopal  cities  in  Christian  times, 
in  other  parts  of  Syria,  of  which  the  ruins  have  yet  to  be 
sought.  ThesCj  utterly  destroyed,  exist  now  only  in  their  un- 
distinguishable  or  undiscovered  ruins.  But  they  shall  rise 
— as  they  have  fallen — at  the  word  of  the  Lord. 

Besides  the  ruins  specially  noted  in  the  preceding  cursory 
view,  the  reader  may  have  marked  the  uniform  testimony 
which  is  borne  to  the  fact  that  “  the  country  is  full  of  the  sites 
of  ruins,  whether  on  the  south  of  Judea,  or  on  the  coast  of 
Phoenicia,  or  in  the  interior  or  the  north  of  Syria  and  if  he 
compare  the  lists  of  ancient  cities  previously  given,  he  will 
not  fail  to  perceive  that  many  a  name  still  wants  a  spot  to 
mark  it,  while  ruins  like  those  of  El-Bara,  and  many  heaps 
of  unknown  name,  have  lost  their  genealogy,  or  have  not 
been  identified  with  the  cities  of  their  origin.  ,  The  less  dis¬ 
tinguished  that  they  are,  of  no  note — as  the  ruins  of  Askelon 
were  accounted  till  Ibrahim  Pasha  sought  to  restore  a  city, 
and  as  those  of  Caesarea  appeared  till  Djezzar  Pasha  wanted 
beautiful  marble  columns  to  ornament  a  palace,  and  the  port 
of  Seleucia  with  the  ruins  of  the  city,  not  worth  while  to 
travel  half  an  hour  to  see,  till  another  pasha  purposed  its  res¬ 
toration,  and  a  modern  engineer  gave  in  an  estimate — the 
cities  because  hid  from  view,  and  the  ports  because  they 
i  were  filled  up,  have  lain  secure  in  the  dormancy  of  ages,  to 
awaken  at  the  same  voice  that  bade  them  repose.  The  cities 
i  of  the  Haouran,  constructed  of  the  hardest  stones,  which  are 
bound  together,  though  uncemented,  with  the  firmness  of  a 
!  rock,  have  withstood  the  ravages  of  time,  which  has  passed 
I  over  them  in  the  exposure  of  ages  with  the  lightness  of  a 
j  painter’s  brush,  and  only  tinged  them  with  a  fairer  hue.  But 
^  the  cities  on  the  other  side  of  the  Jordan,  as  the  caverned 
i  but  inexhaustible  quarries  and  partial  ruins  show,  were  con- 
;  structed  of  stones  varying  from  compact  limestone,  slightly 
j  shading  into  marble,  as  in  the  hills  of  Judea,  to  fine  yellow 
'  freestone,  of  softer  texture,  as  in  the  ruins  near  El-Bara ; 
i  and  destined  as  they  were  both  to  fall  and  to  be  built  again, 

K  their  fractured  walls  have  not  stood  exposed  to  a  slow  decay 
'  from  age  to  age,  but  razed  from  their  foundations,  as  the  towns 
i  of  Judea  by  the  Romans,  or  cast  down  by  earthquakes  as  by 
I  ‘  P 


•  336 


RUINS  IN  THE  NORTH  OF  SYRIA, 


the  hand  of  the  Lord,  covered  with  thorns,  and  guarded  by 
wild  beasts,  the  last  word  of  the  Lord  concerning  them  shall 
be  true  as  all  the  rest ;  and  cities  of  Israel  are  yet  ready  at 
his  voice  to  rise  again,  fresh  as  when  they  fell. 

For  many  generations  desolations  were  to  continue,  yet 
there  was  an  appointed  term  for  them  all,  when  the  Lord  would 
comfort  Zion,  and  her  cities,  through  prosperity ,  should  finally 
he  spread  abroad*  He  shall  cause  them  that  come  of  Jacob 
to  take  root.  Israel  shall  blossom  and  bud,  and  fill  the  face 
of  the  world  with  fruit.  Yet  the  defenced  city  shall  be  left, 
and  the  habitation  forsaken,  and  left  like  a  wilderness  ;  there 
shall  the  calf  feed,  and  there  shall  he  lie  down,  and  consume 
the  branches  thereof.!  “  Upon  the  land  of  my  people  shall 
come  up  thorns  and  briers,  yea,  upon  all  the  houses  of  joy 
in  the  joyous  city.  Because  the  palaces  shall  be  forsaken, 
the  multitude  of  the  city  shall  be  left ;  the  forts  and  towers 
shall  be  for  dens  forever,  a  joy  of  wild  asses,  a  pasture  for 
flocks,  until  the  Spirit  be  poured  upon  us  from  on  high. 
Then  my  people  shall  dwell  in  a  peaceful  habitation,  and  in 
sure  dwellings,  and  in  quiet  resting-places.”! 

It  is  not,  then,  till  the  curses  pass  away,  and  the  blessing 
come,  when  Israel  shall  take  hold  of  the  strength  of  his 
God,^  that  we  can  look  for  the  proof  of  what  these  cities 
were,  or  the  evidence,  save  of  faith,  of  what  they  still  shall 
be.  But  we  have  seen  some  token  of  the  ancient  greatness, 
as  well  as  of  the  vast  number,  of  the  cities  that  lay  within  the 
land  of  Israel  as  anciently  possessed,  and  also  within  the 
bounds  of  Solomon’s  dominion. 

Numerous  these  ruins  manifestly  are,  as  those  of  the  cit¬ 
ies  or  towns  of  any  land  ;  but  fallen  as  they  lie,  the  many 
once  noble  cities  of  Syria  may  be  owned  as  such  rather  by 
the  ancient  records  concerning  them,  than  by  looking  on 
their  graves  overgrown  with  rank  weeds,  or  searching  for 
their  ruins  among  thorns.  The  desolation  to  which  they 
have  been  brought  down  is  the  visible  issue  of  the  iniquity 
with  which  the  land  was  defiled  ;  and,  as  we  have  seen, 
enough  is  left  to  show  the  justice  of  the  judgment,  and  to 
meet  its  cause,  as  announced  in  Scripture.  And  we  may 
take  a  parting  glance  at  these  ruins,  by  looking  for  a  moment 
on  another  city  in  its  desolation,  in  which,  as  in  Baalbec  and 
Gerasa,  enough  is  also  left  to  show,  as  no  other  country  can, 


*  Zech.,  i.,  17. 
i  Ibid.,  xxxii.,  13-15,  or  18. 


t  Isa.,  xxvii.,  6,  10. 
()  Ibid.,  xxvii.,  5. 


BEYOND  THE  ANCIENT  BORDERS  OF  ISRAEL.  337 


that  cities  of  surpassing  splendour  once  lay  within  the  bounds 
of  the  kingdom  of  Israel. 

The  greatest  days  which  Rome  in  all  her  glory  ever  saw, 
were  those  in  which  captive  generals  or  kings  were  led  in 
triumph  through  her  streets,  and  the  richest  treasures  and 
most  splendid  spoils  were  borne  in  procession  before  her 
victorious  consuls  or  emperors.  The  greatest  of  these,  as 
recorded  in  Roman  annals,  was  that  in  which  Zenobia  gra¬ 
ced  the  triumph  of  Aurelian,  and  “  the  Queen  of  the  East,” 
who  had  reigned  at  Palmyra,  bowed  her  neck  beneath  the 
yoke  of  Rome.  The  spectacle,  which  called  forth  the  shouts 
of  admiring  citizens  and  slaves,  was  but  the  idle  pageant  of 
an  hour.  Not  a  fragment  of  her  royal  city  could  be  trans¬ 
ferred  to  Rome.  But  its  ruins  yet  remain,  and  hundreds  of 
its  columns  are  yet  erect;  and  when  the  way  of  the  kings 
of  the  East  shall  be  prepared,  and  the  kingdom  be  returned 
to  the  daughter  of  Jerusalem,  and  the  bands  of  her  neck  be 
loosed  by  the  triumphant  King  who  leads  captivity  captive, 
the  ruins  of  Palmyra,  whose  fame  has  spread  throughout  the 
world,  shall  be  an  enduring  monument  of  Israel’s  glory, 
while  the  voice  of  harpers  and  of  trumpeters  shall  he  heard  no 
more,  and  the  light  of  a  candle  shall  shine  no  more  at  alP"  in 
the  city  that  triumphed  over  Jerusalem  and  Palmyra,  and 
gloried  greatly  in  the  day  of  their  fail. 

Palmyra  not  only  lay  within  the  borders  of  Solomon’s 
kingdom,  or  of  the  proper  heritage  of  Israel,  but  was  also  a 
city  which  he  built ;  and  when  the  kingdom  shall  return,  it 
doubtless  shall  be  raised  again.  Its  ruins,  well  known,  need 
not  be  described  ;  but,  having  heard  much  from  many  a 
traveller  of  hewn  stones  irflheaps  where  the  cities  of  Israel 
stood,  we  may  see  them  as  they  lie  uncovered  in  Palmyra, 
or  still  reposing  in  its  walls,  as  in  those  of  the  gate  of  Anti¬ 
och.  The  cities  of  Israel,  whether  cast  down  by  earth¬ 
quakes  or  by  the  hand  of  man,  fell  not,  like  fractured  walls, 
in  useless  pieces,  in  whose  fragments  the  stones  are  imbed¬ 
ded  as  before,  and  unfit  to  be  built  up  again,  but  the  unce¬ 
mented  stones  lie  singly,  ready  for  the  builder’s  hand. 

But  the  Lord  will  do  better  to  Israel  than  at  the  begin¬ 
ning,  and  better  than  He  did  to  Greeks  or  Romans  in  a  land 
not  theirs.  A  Protestant  king,  but  of  late,  ignorant  or  for¬ 
getful,  perhaps,  that  far  more  than  a  hundred  cathedrals  lie 
in  ruins  in  Syria,  boasted  that  the  quarry  would  be  opened 

*  Rev.,  xviii.,  23. 

F  F 


338 


RUINS  IN  THE  NORTH  OF  SYRIA, 


again  to  renew  the  building  of  the  cathedral  of  Cologne,  sus¬ 
pended  since  the  days  of  the  Reformation  ;  but,  though  that 
shall  be  in  vain,  if  experience  deceive  not,  the  owls  and  the 
bats  shall  not  be  scared  in  vain  by  the  echoes  awakened  by 
many  a  resounding  hammer  breaking  the  long  silence  that 
has  rested  in  all  the  quarries  from  end  to  end  of  the  land  of 
Israel,  wherever  ruins  yield  not  hewn  stones  in  sufficient 
abundance  and  perfection  for  the  raising  again  of  one  and 
all  of  the  cities  that  have  fallen,  and  for  enlarging  tenfold 
those  that  still  remain. 

True  it  is  concerning  the  cities  as  concerning  the  land, 
that  the  glory  of  Jacob  has  been  made  thin,  and  the  fatness 
of  his  flesh  has  become  lean.  Yet  gleaning  grapes  have 
been  left  in  it,  as  the  shaking  of  an  olive-tree,  two  or  three 
berries  in  the  top  of  the  uttermost  bough,  four  or  five  in  the 
outmost  fruitful  branches  thereof,  as  said  the  Lord  God  of 
Israel.  True  it  is  that  the  strong  cities  have  become  as  a  for¬ 
saken  bought  and  an  uppermost  branch  which  they  left,  and 
there  is  a  desolation.  Yet,  however  cursorily  we  have  sur¬ 
veyed  the  ruined  cities  within  the  chartered  bounds  of  Isra¬ 
el’s  inheritance,  in  these  very  ruins  there  is  as  the  gleaning 
of  grapes  when  the  harvest  is  done,  two  or  three  berries  on 
the  top  of  the  uttermost  bough,  four  or  five  in  the  outmost 
branches  thereof.  And  even  thus,  comparing  some  rem¬ 
nants  of  ruins  in  Gerasa,  Kanouat,  Baalbec,  and  Palmyra, 
with  the  streets  or  edifices  of  the  cities  of  any  modern  king¬ 
dom,  may  we  not  say  that  the  gleaning  of  the  grapes  of 
Ephraim  is  better  than  the  vintage  of  Eliezer  :  and  may  we 
not  ask  where,  on  any  olive-tree  fresh  and  in  full  bearing, 
are  four  or  five  berries  to  be  seeif^like  those  which  hang  on 
the  outmost  branches  of  the  shaken  olive  of  Israel  ?  And 
what  shall  Israel  be  when  the  good  olive-tree  shall  again 
blossom  and  bud,  and  bear  fruit  far  richer  than  before — not 
for  the  renovation  of  cities  only,  but  for  the  healing  of  the 
nations — and  Israel’s  God  shall  be  Israel’s  glory  1  Then  the 
monuments  of  a  departed  paganism  and  popery,  first  reared 
by  those  who  trusted  in  the  gods  that  could  not  save  or  in 
the  intercessors  that  could  not  hear,  shall  be  the  antique  orna¬ 
ments  of  the  renovated  cities  of  Israel,  and  Immanuel’s  land 
forever  bear  the  trophies  of  his  victory  over  the  gods  of  the 
heathen,  and  over  that  wicked  one  whom  He  will  yet  de¬ 
stroy  with  the  word  of  His  mouth  and  with  the  brightness 
of  his  coming.* 

*  Isa.,  xvii.,  6. 


339 


NATURAL  FERTILITY  OP  JUDEA,  ETC. 

* 


CHAPTER  XII. 

NATURAL  FERTILITY  OF  JUDEA,  AND  OF  THE  NORTH  OF 

SYRIA. 

When  the  Israelites  were  in  the  wilderness  of  Paran, 
Moses,  at  the  command  of  the  Lord,  sent  twelve  men,  one 
from  each  tribe,  who  were  the  heads  of  the  children  of  Is¬ 
rael,  to  spy  out  the  land;  and  he  said  unto  them,  Get  you 
this  way  southioard,  and  go  up  into  the  mountain^  and  see  the 
land  what  it  is ;  and  the  people  that  dwell  therein,  whether 
they  he  weak  or  strong,  few  or  many,  and  what  the  land  is  that 
they  dwell  in,  whether  it  he  good  or  had ;  and  what  cities  they 
he  that  they  dwell  in,  whether  in  tents  or  in  strongholds ;  and 
what  the  land  is,  whether  it  he  fat  or  lean,  whether  there  he 
wood  therein  or  not ;  and  bring  of  the  fruit  of  the  land.  They 
came  again,  two  of  the  men  hearing  upon  a  staff  one  cluster 
of  grapes,  and  they  brought  of  the  pomegranates  and  figs,  and 
they  all  testified  that  the  land  fiowed  with  milk  and  honey, 
and  that  the  cities  were  walled  and  very  great.* 

In  the  preceding  pages  we  have  seen  something  of  the 
intermediate  history  and  state  of  the  land  from  that  day  to 
this  ;  and  coming  at  last  to  espy  the  land  from  south  to 
north,  it  is  not,  as  an  appropriate  emblem  of  it  all,  that  one 
cluster  of  grapes  has  to  be  cut  down  and  to  be  borne  on  a 
staff  between  two.  But  single  gleaning  grapes,  left  after 
the  vintage,  may  everywhere  be  gathered  to  show,  bare  and 
desolate  as  it  is,  what  fruit  the  land  has  borne,  and  may  yet 
bear  again. 

The  various  features  of  its  desolation,  according  to  each 
and  all  the  predicted  judgments  or  curses  of  a  broken  cov¬ 
enant,  which  have  come  upon  the  land,  the  writer  has  else¬ 
where  shown.  The  subject  is  now  familiar  to  many,  and 
the  truth  of  the  prophetic  word  is  attested  by  each  succeed¬ 
ing  traveller  who  visits  it. 

As  connected  with  the  Abrahamic  covenant  respecting 
the  everlasting  possession  by  his  seed  of  their  promised  in¬ 
heritance,  our  proper  theme  here  is  the  natural  fertility  and 
capability  of  high  cultivation — notwithstanding  the  existing 

*  Numbers,  xiii.,  1,  2,  17-28. 


340 


NATURAL  FERTILITY  OF  JUDEA, 


desolation — of  the  land  west  of  the  Jordan  and  north  of 
Dan,  as  previously  we  viewed  that  of  the  regions  east  of 
the  Jordan. 

The  hill-country  of  Judea,*  which  has  been  waste  for  ages 
past,  as  seen  from  the  plain,  with  the  face  of  bare  rocks  pre¬ 
sented  to  view,  seems  not  only  utterly  desolate  as  soon  as* 
the  summer’s  sun  has  scorched  any  partial  vernal  verdure, 
but  absolutely  sterile  ;  and  great,  as  the  author  can  testify, 
is  the  traveller’s  astonishment  on  contemplating  the  wild 
scene  ;  and  he  marvels  how  they  could  ever  have  been  cov¬ 
ered  with  the  shadow  of  the  vine.  They  are  as  desolate 
or  waste  as  the  cities  of  Judah.  The  curse  has  lighted 
fearfully  indeed,  but  equally  on  both.  These  hills  want  the 
grandeur  of  precipitous  mountains,  whose  bare  peaks  and 
towering  ridges  set  forth  the  sublimity  of  the  works  of  God, 
till  the  mind  is  elevated  as  the  mountain  top  penetrates  the 
sky,  and  may  well  feel  a  trace  of  its  own  higher  nature  in 
the  rising  thought  of  Him  who  hath  laid  the  foundations  of 
the  everlasting  hills.  The  sublime  in  such  a  scene  may 
fairly  take  the  place  of  the  beautiful,  and  awe,  if  it  cannot 
captivate,  the  spectator.  But  the  rounded  yet  rocky  hills 
of  Judea  swell  out  in  empty,  unattractive,  and  even  repul¬ 
sive  barrenness  (could  their  name  be  forgotten),  with  no¬ 
thing  to  relieve  the  eye  or  captivate  the  fancy  ;  and  worthy 
they  seem  of  being  taken  up  in  the  lips  of  talkers,  and  of  be¬ 
ing,  as  they  have  been,  an  infamy  of  the  people  J  The  very 
labour  expended  on  them  of  old  completes  their  apparent 
sterile  desolateness.  Had  they  been  left  untouched  by  hu¬ 
man  hands,  the  mark  of  infamy  could  not,  in  the  natural 
course  of  things,  as  with  other  hills  in  a  kindred  clime,  have 
been  stamped  upon  them  as  it  is.  The  sloping  mountains, 
in  their  natural  form,  might  have  been  clothed  with  nature’s 
verdure,  a  fitting  pasturage  for  sheep  and  goats ;  or  else, 
though  tenanted  by  wild  beasts,  they  might,  however  uncul¬ 
tivated,  have  been  clothed  in  beauty  like  the  mountains  of 
Gilead,  that  lie  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  valley.  Bare 
though  they  had  been,  the  winds  of  heaven  and  the  birds  of 
the  air  could  scarcely  have  but  carried  seeds  of  wild  flow¬ 
ers  and  fruit  where  there  is  soil  sufficient  for  their  growth, 
that  the  nakedness  of  the  hills  might  have  been  wholly 
clothed,  but  that  of  the  rocky  wilderness  of  Judea.  All  is 
now  alike  a  wilderness ;  and  covered  as  these  mountains 

*  Lnke,  i.,  39,  65,  t  Ezek.,  xxxvi,,  3 


AND  OF  THE  NORTH  OF  SYRIA. 


341 


are  with  terraces,  whose  bare  fronts  alone  are  to  be  seen, 
the  bald  hills,  looked  on  at  a  short  distance  or  from  beneath, 
present  at  first  sight  one  uniform  aspect  of  sterility,  which 
seems  to  bid  defiance  to  cultivation,  and  to  say  that  the 
blessings  of  God  never  rested,  nor,  without  a  miracle,  could 
rest  on  a  scene  so  desolate  and  repulsive. 

But  they  frown  on  every  passer-by  only  because  the 
Lord  has  frowned  on  them.  And  at  the  sight  of  them, 
blighted  by  the  written  curses  of  the  covenant,  which  have 
been  transferred  from  the  book  of  the  Lord  to  the  mount¬ 
ains  of  Israel,  the  reflecting  mind  may  be  struck  with  a 
deeper  awe  than  that  which  the  grandest  scenes  of  nature 
can  inspire,  which,  speak  as  they  may,  cannot  bring  His 
voice  so  near,  or  tell  more  plainly  what  the  Lord  hath 
wrought,  as  these  echoing  mountains,  like  the  voices  of  the 
dead  from  their  graves,  respond  to  every  predicted  judg¬ 
ment,  Thus  saith  the  Lord. 

These  words,  which  preface  the  judgments  which  have 
come  in  all  their  terribleness,  preface  also  the  promises 
which  shall  be  fulfilled  in  all  their  truth  ;  and  the  mountains 
of  Israel  have  yet  to  respond  to  the  voice  of  the  Lord  in  a 
manner  as  different  from  what  they  now  do,  as  the  blessings 
of  the  new  covenant  differ  from  the  curses  of  the  old. 
“  Prophesy  unto  the  mountains  of  Israel,  and  say.  Ye  mount¬ 
ains  of  Israel,  hear  the  word  of  the  Lord  :  thus  saith  the 
Lord  God,  Because  the  enemy  hath  said  against  you.  Aha, 
even  the  ancient  places  are  ours  in  possession,  therefore 
prophesy  and  say,  thus  saith  the  Lord  God,  Because  they 
have  made  you  desolate,  and  ye  are  taken  up  in  the  lips  of 
talkers,  and  are  an  infamy  of  the  people ;  therefore,  ye  mount¬ 
ains  of  Israel,  hear  the  word  of  the  Lord  God,  Thus  saith 
the  Lord  God  to  the  mountains  and  to  the  hills,  to  the  rivers 
and  to  the  valleys,  to  the  desolate  wastes  and  to  the  cities  that 
are  forsaken,  which  became  a  prey  and  derision  to  the  residue 
of  the  heathen  that  are  round  about  you ;  therefore  thus  saith 
the  Lord  God,  I  have  lifted  up  mine  hand,  surely  the  heathen 
that  are  about  you,  they  shall  bear  their  shame.  But  ye, 
O  mountains  of  Israel,  ye  shall  shoot  forth  your  branches,  and 
yield  your  fruit  to  my  people  of  Israel ;  for  they  are  at  hand 
to  come.  For,  behold,  I  am  for  you,  and  I  will  turn  unto 
you,  and  ye  shall  be  tilled  and  sown :  and  I  will  multiply  men 
upon  you,  all  the  house  of  Israel,  even  all  of  it:  and  the 
cities  shall  be  inhabited,  and  the  wastes  shall  be  budded ; 

F  F  2 


r 


342  NATURAL  FERTILITY  OF  JUDEA, 

and  I  will  multiply  upon  you  man  and  beast,  and  they  shall 
increase  and  bring  fruit :  and  I  will  settle  you  after  your  old 
estates,  and  will  do  belter  unto  you  than  at  your  beginnings  : 
and  ye  shall  know  that  I  am  the  Lord.  Yea,  I  will  cause 
men  to  walk  upon  you,  even  my  people  Israel ;  and  they 
shall  possess  thee,  and  thou  shalt  be  their  inheritance. 

Neither  will  I  cause  men  to  hear  in  thee  the  shame  of  the 
heathen  any  more,  neither  shalt  thou  hear  the  reproach  of  ! 

the  people  any  more.  I  will  call  for  corn,  and  will  increase  ; 

it^  and  I  will  multiply  the  fruit  of  the  tree,  and  the  increase  of 
the  field;  and  the  desolate  land  shall  be  tilled,  whereas  it 
lay  desolate  in  the  sight  of  all  that  passed  by.  And  they 
shall  say.  This  land  that  was  desolate  is  become  like  the  gar¬ 
den  of  Eden ;  and  the  waste,  and  desolate,  and  ruined  cities 
are  fenced  and  inhabited.  Then  the  heathen  shall  know 
that  I  the  Lord  plant  that  that  was  desolate :  I  the  Lord 
have  spoken,  and  I  will  do  it.”* 

The  mountains  of  Israel  have  indeed  been  taken  up  in  | 
the  lips  of  talkers,  and  have  become  an  infamy  of  the  peo-  ! 
pie.  Voltaire  speaks  of  Palestine  with  derision,  describes 
it  as  one  of  the  worst  countries  of  Asia,  and  says  that  it 
could  only  have  been  accounted  fertile  by  those  who  had  | 
wandered  forty  years  in  the  wilderness ;  while  at  Beyrout  f 
the  writer  of  these  pages  was  told  of  one  of  his  disciples,  ' 
an  infidel  Frenchman,  who  a  short  time  previously  had 
landed  there  from  Europe,  on  purpose  to  visit  the  land  and 
mountains  of  Israel,  that  he  might  write  a  book  to  disprove  i 
utterly  the  scriptural  accounts  of  their  goodliness.  His  lips, 
like  those  of  his  master  and  many  other§  besides,  were  those 
of  a  talker  blaspheming  the  mountains  of  Israel.  Not  to 
satisfy  himself  had  he  come,  for  he  well  knew  that  the  land 
reputed  as  the  glory  of  all  lands  was  a  poor  sterile  country, 
one  of  the  worst  in  Asia ;  but  that  others  might  be  convin¬ 
ced,  and  the  world  might  be  enlightened,  he  was  going  to 
see  with  his  own  eyes  the  nakedness  of  the  land,  and  prove 
the  falsehood  of  the  scriptural  records  concerning  it.  He 
went ;  but,  entering  the  mountains,  the  extreme  barrenness 
of  which  formed  the  fancied  matter  of  his  argument,  the 
grand  idea  was  dissipated  at  the  sight,  and  the  poor  book, 
blighted  in  the  conception,  which,  if  it  had  been  brought 
forth,  was  to  have  convinced  the  world,  formed  but  the  re- 

membrance  of  an  idle  dream.  The  talker’s  mouth  was  i 

i 

t 


*  Ezekiel,  xxxvi.,  4,  7-11,  13-15,  29,  30,  34-36. 


AND  OF  THE  NORTH  OF  SYRIA. 


343 


closed,  and  the  mute  traveller  returned  literally  silenced  at 
the  sight.  Like  the  ruins  of  many  cities,  the  hills  of  Judah 
are  not  what  at  first  sight  they  seem,  but  a  narrow  inspec¬ 
tion  shows  what  they  have  been  and  may  speedily  become. 
Neither  Askelon  nor  Caesarea,  nor  the  port  of  Seleucia,  nor 
the  princely  Palmyra,  are  more  ready  for  restoration  than 
are  those  very  hills  that  cannot  be  looked  on  without  pain¬ 
ful  melancholy  now,  to  rejoice  on  every  side  so  soon  as  the 
curses  that  have  scathed  them  shall  have  been  taken  away, 
and  the  blessings  of  a  better  covenant  shall  rest  on  the 
mountains  of  Israel.  If  the  polished  stones  of  ruined  cities 
may  well  cry  out  for  the  coming  of  the  time  when,  ceasing 
to  be  dens  and  caves  for  wild  beasts,  they  shall  be  raised 
into  dwellings  for  righteous  men  in  days  of  peace  and  bless¬ 
edness,  so  may  the  desolate  hills  of  Judah,  once  clad  with 
vines,  but  long  scorched  with  an  intenser  heat  than  that  of 
the  burning  sun,  also  cry  out  that  these  days  may  come 
when  they  shall  cast  off  the  briers  and  thorns  that  closely 
cover  their  terraced  sides,  and  be  clothed  anew  with  vines, 
and  pomegranates,  and  figs,  and  their  infamy  cease,  and  the 
stranger  from  a  far  land,  no  lying  spy  when  speaking  of 
their  nakedness  now,  may  longer  ask  wherefore  hath  the 
curse  devoured  the  land  ?  why  hath  the  Lord  done  thus 
unto  the  land  ? 

The  stones  of  Csesarea,  and  of  numberless  buildings  in 
Palestine,  are  hewn  or  polished,  but  they  lie  as  they  fell, 
and  no  farther  labour,  as  not  needed,  has  been  wrought  on 
them.  But  the  Word  of  the  Lord  concerning  the  mountains 
of  Israel,  when  He  shall  turn  unto  them,  and  they  shall  not 
bear  the  shame  of  the  heathen  any  more,  promises  better 
things  than  a  mere  renewal  of  their  ancient  fruitfulness. 
He  will  plant  that  that  was  desolate ;  He  will  multiply  the 
fruit  of  the  tree,  and  the  increase  of  the  field,  and  do  better 
unto  them  than  at  their  beginnings.  He  hath  spoken  it, 
and  He  will  do  it.  And  the  predicted  desolations  of  many 
generations  have,  in  respect  both  to  the  mountains  and  the 
plains,  been  converted  into  means  of  preparing  the  way  for 
the  blissful  completion  of  the  promise. 

In  regard  to  their  ancient  fertility,  the  most  obvious  and 
abundant  proofs  may  be  adduced.  The  author  has  passed 
along  the  Rhone,  the  Rhine,  the  Neckar,  and  the  Danube, 
where  the  terraced  sides  of  the  hills  that  skirt  their  banks 


344 


NATURAL  FERTILITY  OF  JUDEA, 


form  some  of  the  finest  vine  districts  of  Europe,  but  nowhere, 
in  any  of  them,  has  he  seen  continuous  terraces,  at  al-1  to  be 
compared  in  number  or  extent  with  those  which,  by  their 
multiplicity,  astonish  the  traveller  in  the  mountains  of  Isra¬ 
el.  The  largest  number  of  successive  terraces  which  he 
has  anywhere  else  seen,  covering  for  a  short  space  the  side 
of  a  hill  (on  the  banks  of  the  Rhine),  was  thirty-four.  But 
the  hill-country  of  Judea,  with  which  the  dreariest  regions 
of  the  earth  might  now  bear  a  comparison,  is  no  sooner  en¬ 
tered  than  a  scene  opens  to  view  scarcely  less  marvellous 
than  the  kindred  multiplicity  of  the  cities  of  Syria,  and 
the  magnificence  of  the  greatest  of  its  ruins.  As  these  re¬ 
main  to  challenge  the  most  splendid  structure  of  modern 
cities,  and  as  the  frequency  of  ruins,  betokening  from  their 
close  vicinity  what  may  be  called  congregated  cities,  is  un¬ 
paralleled  by  that  of  modern  towns  in  any  kingdom,  so  there 
is  not  another  hill-country  of  Europe  which  could  now  be 
said  to  drop  down  new  wine,  as  that  of  Judea  did,  and,  ac¬ 
cording  to  the  Word  of  the  Lord,  shall  do  again.  In  many 
places,  and  for  many  miles  in  extent,  it  is  terraced  through¬ 
out.  On  reaching  it,  the  astonishment  previously  excited  at 
the  sight  of  barren  mountains,  seemingly  unsusceptible  of 
culture,  is  changed  into  still  greater  amazement  at  the  sight 
of  steep  hills,  converted  into  very  numerous  horizontal  beds, 
rising  successively  till  the  top  of  the  mountain  forms  the 
last,  and  ranging  continuously  on  both  sides  of  the  valleys 
till  every  spot  is  embraced  within  them,  from  end  to  end, 
and  from  the  summit  to  the  base.  The  first  hill  on  which 
the  writer  narrowly  looked  was  of  a  conical  form,  wholly 
encircled  with  successive  terraces,  which  doubtless  repaid 
the  immense  labour  of  their  construction  by  a  vintage  or  a 
kindred  produce,  which  no  plain  within  a  like  circumference 
could  even  equal.  After  having  passed  through  a  long  val¬ 
ley,  terraced  on  both  sides,  the  extremity  of  which  was  en¬ 
closed,  as  if  by  a  widespread  amphitheatre  of  terraced  hills, 
on  ascending  a  mountain  pass  he  counted  sixty-seven  ter¬ 
races,  which  occupied  successively  the  whole  side  of  the 
hid,  while  considerably  higher  mountains  were  manifestly 
terraced  all  over  by  a  proportionally  greater  number. 

The  idea,  as  expressed  in  the  Evidence  of  Prophecy, 
which  the  author  had  previously  formed  of  these  terraces, 
was,  that  the  soil  had  been  accumulated  with  astonishing 
labour,  as  stated  by  Dr.  Clarke,  and  the  impression  on  his 


AND  OF  THE  NORTH  OF  SYRIA. 


345 


mind  was  that  it  had  been  carried  from  the  rich  plains  be¬ 
neath.  In  some  instances  they  seemingly  have  thus  been 
rendered  productive,  where  the  projecting  calcareous  rock, 
of  which  these  mountains  consist,  afforded  no  space  for  soil 
prior  to  the  formation  of  terraces  ;  and  in  some  such  cases 
it  is  observable  that  the  terrace,  or  top  of  the  rock,  when 
cut,  inclined  into  the  mountain,  or  downward,  for  the  better 
•retaining,  perhaps,  the  moisture  and  the  soil.  But,  in  gen¬ 
eral,  so  far  as  witnessed,  with  comparatively  unnoticeable 
exceptions,  the  soil  is  that  of  the  hill- country  itself ;  and  on 
raising  some  large  stones,  they  were  found  to  be  imbedded 
in  rich  dark  earth,  a  sharp  light  soil  best  adapted  for  the 
vine,  more  than  a  foot  in  ascertained  depth.  In  ancient 
times,  the  numberless  terraces,  on  which  such  astonishing 
labour  has  been  expended,  even  without  the  accumulation 
of  soil,  doubtless  lacked  not  a  sufficiency  to  cover  the  now 
barren  mountains  with  fruit  for  the  people  Israel,  when  the 
scene  must  have  been  as  beauteous  as  now  it  is  blasted,  and 
as  fertile  as  now  it  is  desolate.  On  inspecting  the  terraces, 
the  marvel  is  not,  as  when  the  hills  are  approached,  how 
they  could  ever  have  been  crowned  with  plenty,  but  how 
they  could  have  lain  so  long  and  so  utterly  desolate  ;  and 
just  as  the  labour  would  now  be  little  to  build  a  city  of  hewn 
stones  lying  ready  on  the  spot,  so  the  labour  would  now  be 
comparatively  less,  not  by  a  tenth,  not  by  a  hundredth,  or 
sometimes  not  even  by  a  thousandth  part  of  what  it  origi¬ 
nally  was,  to  make  the  vines  and  other  fruit-trees  shoot  forth 
their  branches  and  yield  their  fruits,  were  the  good  time  of 
the  God  of  Israel  come  to  turn  again  to  the  mountains  of  Is¬ 
rael. 

Whether  in  the  poorest  or  the  richest  regions  of  the  land, 
terraces  everywhere  abound  in  places  where  the  form  of 
the  hills  suited  their  construction,  and  the  produce  was  there¬ 
by  ameliorated  or  increased  in  an  inconceivable  degree. 

“  Even  in  these  parts,”  says  Dr.  Robinson,  “  where  all  is 
now  desolate,  as  in  the  rugged  sloping  mountains  between 
Jerusalem  and  the  Dead  Sea,  which  present  nothing  but 
an  aspect  of  dreary  desolation,  there  are  everywhere  traces 
of  the  hands  of  tlie  men  of  other  days — terraces,  walls,  stones 
gathered  along  the  paths,  frequent  cisterns,  and  the  like. 
Most  of  the  hills  exhibit  the  remains  of  terraces  built  up 
around  them,  the  undoubted  sites  of  former  cultivation.”'*^ 

*  Robinson  and  Smith,  ii.,  187. 


346  NATURAL  FERTILITY  OF  JUDEA, 

The  city  of  Samaria,  situated  on  an  oblong  isolated  hill  at 
the  head  of  the  fat  valley,  trusted  in  its  strength,  and  gloried 
in  its  riches.  Purchased,  as  was  the  hill  on  which  it  stood, 
by  Omri  of  Shemer,  it  is  reserved,  like  all  the  mountains  of 
Samaria,  and  the  land  over  which  it  reigned,  as  the  free  gift 
of  the  Lord  to  his  people  Israel.  The  beasts  of  the  field, 
according  to  the  Word  of  the  Lord,  now  feed  on  the  grassy 
terraces  which  encircle  the  hill,  like  beds  of  down,  all  ready 
for  cultivation ;  but,  like  those  around  it,  whose  terraced 
sides  formed  hanging  gardens  beautifully  closing  in  the  rich 
valley,  they  are  yet  reserved  for  their  primitive  use  and  for 
their  ancient  occupants  ;  for  in  the  same  chapter  in  which 
the  prophet  announces  the  new  covenant  which  the  Lord 
will  make  with  the  house  of  Israel  and  the  house  of  Judah, 
it  is  written.  The  virgin  of  Israel  shall  yet  plant  vines  upon 
the  mountains  of  Samaria :  the  planters  shall  plant  and  eat 
them  as  common  things.  For,  saith  the  Lord',  I  am  a  Father 
to  Israel,  and  Ephraim  is  my  first-born. They  shall  pos¬ 
sess  the  fields  of  Samaria.t  Beyond  the  hills  of  Judea  and 
the  mountains  of  Samaria,  and  the  ancient  borders  of  the 
land  in  which  the  Israelites  dwelt,  “  in  the  Lebanon  of  the 
Druses  and  the  Maronites,  the  rocks,. now  abandoned  to  fir- 
trees  and  brambles,  present  us,”  says  Volney,  “in  a  thou¬ 
sand  places  with  terraces,  which  prove  that  they  were  infi¬ 
nitely  better  cultivated  and  much  more  populous  than  in  our 
days.”  The  hills  near  Baalbec  were  anciently  covered  with 
vines  ;  and  in  the  days  of  Strabo,  Laodicea  on  the  coast, 
near  to  the  extremity  of  the  promised  land,  chiefly  supplied 
Alexandria  with  its  abundant  wines,  the  vineyards  in  its  vi¬ 
cinity  then  reaching  almost  to  the  very  summits  of  the  hills. 

If  we  return  again  from  the  north  of  Syria  to  the  south  of 
Judea,  and  look  from  end  to  end  of  the  gleaning  grapes, 
though  no  more,  may  be  found  throughout  it  when  the  vin¬ 
tage  is  past ;  and  the  terraces,  with  few  exceptions,  are  bare 
and  bereft  of  all  but  the  creeping  thorns,  which  closely  cov¬ 
er  them  and  conceal  the  soil,  while  the  rocky  fronts  are  ex¬ 
posed  to  view. 

The  spies  who  went  up  from  the  wilderness  of  Zin  to 
search  the  land  whether  it  was  good  or  bad,  ascended  by 
the  south,  and,  after  traversing  it,  came  to  Hebron  :  and  the 
vale  of  Hebron,  near  to  the  cave  of  Machpelah,  may  yet,  in 

*  Jeremiah,  xxxi.,  5.  t  Obadiah,  19. 


AND  OF  THE  NORTH  OF  SYRIA. 


347 


the  largeness  and  excellence  of  its  grapes,  outvie  the  envi¬ 
rons  of  Bourdeaux,  and  the  richest  spots  on  the  banks  of  the 
Rhine  or  of  the  Rhone.  They  still  abound  in  the  gardens 
near  to  the  burying-place  of  Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob, 
and  cluster  in  all  their  native  richness  there,  as  if  waiting 
the  time  when  the  covenant  made  with  these  patriarchal 
fathers  shall  be  fulfilled,  and  when  their  children,  faithful 
like  themselves,  shall  drink  new  wine  in  another  and  better 
kingdom  than  the  world  has  seen  since  the  weeping  parents 
of  the  human  race,  cast  out  of  paradise,  first  tilled  the  earth 
that  had  been  cursed  for  their  sakes.  Immense  bunches  of 
grapes,  unripe,  and  not  of  full  size,  intermingled  with  the 
bright  flowers  of  the  pomegranate,  hung  over  the  fences  of 
the  vineyards  of  Hebron  when  passed  by  the  writer  and  the 
friends  who  accompanied  him,  who  were  there  informed  that 
these  gardens  sometimes  produced  bunches  of  grapes,  when 
fully  ripe,  of  six  pounds’  weight ;  and  on  a  succeeding  day, 
Sir  Moses  Montefiore  got  a  bunch  of  grapes  about  a  yard  in 
length.*  On  a  plain  near  to  Hebron,  supposed  to  be  that  of 
Mamre,  stands,  pre-eminent  among  other  trees,  one  which 
bears  the  name  of  Abraham’s  oak,  that  yet  remains  as  a  wit¬ 
ness  of  the  goodliness  of  the  land.  The  circumference  of 
its  trunk,  as  carefully  measured,  is  twenty-two  feet  nine 
inches,  and  where  the  branches  separate,  twenty-five  feet 
nine  inches.  It  spreads  nearly  equally  around  to  a  great 
extent,  the  circumference  of  its  branches  being  two  hundred 
and  fifty-six  feet,  and  the  diameter,  from  their  opposite  ex¬ 
tremities,  eighty-one  feet,  thus  covering  an  area  of  about  five 
hundred  square  yards. 

Tadmor  and  Baalbec,  built  by  Solomon,  though  fallen, 
are  magnificent  in  their  ruins ;  but  the  pools  of  Hebron  and 
the  pools  of  Solomon,  most  substantially  and  finely  construct¬ 
ed,  are  yet  entire.  The  former  has  ever  watered  the  city 
where  David  first  reigned ;  and  slight  repairs  of  the  aque¬ 
duct  by  Mehemet  Ali  have  made  the  water  to  flow  from  the 
latter,  a  distance  of  six  miles,  to  the  city  where  his  throne 
was  finally  established.  The  larger  pool  of  Hebron  is  a 
hundred  and  thirty-three  feet  on  each  side — nineteen  hun- 
dred  and  forty-three  square  yards  of  superficial  extent — and 
its  depth  above  twenty  feet.  Of  the  pools  of  Solomon,  the 
average  length  of  the  first  is  three  hundred  and  eighty-four 
feet,  the  breadth  two  hundred  and  thirty-two,  and  the  depth 

*  Narrative,  p.  240, 


348 


NATURAL  FERTILITY  OF  JUDEA, 


twenty-five  feet.  Of  the  second,  the  length  is  four  hundred 
and  twenty-five  feet,  and  the  average  breadth  two  hundred 
and  four.  Of  the  third,  the  length  is  five  hundred  and  eighty- 
three  feet,  and  the  average  breadth  one  hundred  and  seventy- 
five.  These  have  not  continued  entire  for  so  many  ages 
merely  to  suit  the  purpose  of  the  Pasha  of  Egypt,  the  tem¬ 
porary  lord  of  Palestine,  or  to  supply  water  to  Gentiles  that 
tread  Jerusalem  under  foot. 

Some  cultivated  spots  scattered  throughout  the  land,  in  the 
vicinity  of  a  town  or  village  protected  by  a  Turkish  governor 
or  an  Arab  sheik,  still  show  what  the  vine-clad  hills  of  Is¬ 
rael  were,  and  what  they  are  yet  destined  to  be  ;  and  more 
delicious  fruits  may  yet  be  found  in  that  desolate  land  than 
wealth  can  command  or  art  produce  in  less  genial  climes ; 
and  grapes  and  other  fruits  may  still  be  gleaned,  which  put 
to  shame  the  best  artificial  vineries  of  England. 

The  village  of  Kurieh,  in  the  mountains,  on  the  way  from 
Gaza  to  Jerusalem,  is  imbosomed  among  olives,  pomegran¬ 
ates,  and  large  fig-trees,  a  solitary  palm  rising  above  the 
cluster.  Many  of  the  terraces  are  finely  cultivated,  showing 
what  these  mountains  might  speedily  become.*  Near  Ku- 
loneah,  on  the  same  road,  about  five  miles  distant  from  Je¬ 
rusalem,  figs,  olives,  and  vines  have  resumed  their  place  on 
many  terraces  ;  and  the  bottom  of  the  valley,  though  stony, 
exhibits  all  the  richness  and  beauty  of  a  land  once  the  gar¬ 
den  of  the  Roman  Empire.  It  is,  so  far  as  cultivated,  an  or¬ 
chard  of  fruit-trees,  intermingled  with  vineyards,  in  which 
vines,  figs,  olives,  pomegranates,  peaches,  &c.,  conspire,  in 
rich  luxuriance,  to  show  what  fruit  Judea  can  produce 
wherever  it  is  recultivated,  even  where  the  ground  is  very 
stony,  while  many  far  larger,  and  naturally  far  richer  valleys, 
and  hills  alike  terraced  throughout,  are  utterly  waste. 

We  cannot  pass  by  the  waste  places  around  Jerusalem 
without  looking  to  a  more  sure  augury  of  a  plenteous  prod¬ 
uce  and  a  returning  glory  than  that  of  the  fairest  flowers 
or  the  richest  fruit.  Desolation  has  indeed  come  up  upon 
the  land,  and  environed  the  now  feeble  walls  of  Jerusalem. 
The  hills  around  it  are  waste.  Upon  them,  except  occasion¬ 
ally,  and  partially  along  the  valleys  at  their  base,  there  is 
scarcely  a  field  that  is  ploughed,  except  that,  according  to 
the  Word  of  the  Lord,  which  Zion  itself  has  become.  In 
the  bottom  of  the  deep  valley  of  Jehoshaphat,  over  the  brook 

*  Narrative,  p.  164. 


.ggW ora  one's 


/ 


AND  OF  THE  NORTH  OF  SYRIA. 


349 


Kedron,  large  and  venerable  olive-trees  keep  their  place  in 
the  garden  of  Gethsemane,  once  stained  with  that  blood 
which  shall  redeem  from  the  curse  the  land,  the  people, 
and  the  world.  A  few  trees  are  thinly  scattered  over  the 
mount,  whose  name  still  tells  that  it  was  once,  in  truth,  the 
Mount  of  Olives.  “  The  Lord  shall  comfort  Zion  ;  He  will 
comfort  all  her  waste  places  ;  and  he  will  make  her  wilder¬ 
ness  like  Eden,  and  her  desert  like  the  garden  of  the  Lord ; 
joy  and  gladness  shall  be  found  therein,  thanksgiving  and 
the  voice  of  melody.”'*'  “  Break  forth  into  joy,  sing  togeth¬ 
er,  ye  waste  places  of  Jerusalem,  for  the  Lord  hath  comfort¬ 
ed  his  people.  He  hath  redeemed  Jerusalem.”!  Jerusalem 
will  be  more  appropriately  our  theme  in  treating — at  anoth¬ 
er  time,  if  God  will — on  the  covenant  with  David.  It  is  not 
from  the  waste  places  around  it,  nor  from  a  city  often  visit¬ 
ed  by  plague,  oppressed  by  strangers,  and  trodden  down  of 
the  Gentiles,  that  any  shadow  can  be  seen  of  the  eternal  ex¬ 
cellency  which  the  Lord  will  make  it,  nor  can  any  sound  be 
there  heard  of  the  joy  into  which  its  waste  places  shall  break 
forth  when  the  Lord  shall  make  it  also  the  dwelling  of  peace 
and  the  joy  of  many  generations. j;  But  the  God  of  Jerusa¬ 
lem  shall  therefore  be  glorified  the  more.  The  record  is 
plain,  and  the  truth  is  clear,  and  the  word  of  our  God  abi- 
deth  forever.  He  is  ever  mindful  of  his  covenant ;  and  pre¬ 
fixed  to  these  glorious  things  that  are  written  concerning  Je¬ 
rusalem  is  this  command  to  Israel,  “  Look  unto  Abraham 
your  father,  and  unto  Sarah  that  bare  you  :  for  I  called  him 
alone,  and  blessed  him,  and  increased  him.  For  the  Lord 
shall  comfort  Zion,”§  &;c. 

The  two  plates  here  inserted,  from  the  engravings  illus¬ 
trative  of  the  work  on  Syria  of  the  able  and  worthy  Schubert, 
give  a  view  of  Jerusalem  from  the  south  and  from  the  north. 
In  the  former.  Mount  Zion  and  Mount  Moriah,  between  it 
and  the  valley  of  Jehoshaphat,  are  distinctly  marked,  togeth¬ 
er  with  that  valley  itself,  and  the  Mount  of  Olives,  on  the 
east  of  Jerusalem.  In  the  other,  an  ampler  view  is  given  of 
the  waste  places  around  it.  (See  Plates.) 

The  view  of  the  site  of  Solomon’s  gardens  shows  how  ut¬ 
terly  desolate  the  fairest  portions  of  Palestine  have  become, 
while  a  few  fig  and  olive  trees  are,  like  many  others  in  like 
patches,  spread  over  th*e  land,  the  memorialists  of  a  depart 
ed  glory,  and  the  heralds  of  a  greater  than  that  of  Solomon. 

*  Isaiah,  li.,  3.  +  Ibid.,  lii.,  9.  t  Ibid.,  lx.,  LA  ^  Ibid  ,  li., 


350  NATURAL  FERTILITY  OF  JUDEA, 

About  twelve  miles  north  of  Jerusalem  stood  the  great 
city  of  Gibeon,  now  the  poor  village  of  El-Jib.  The  natu¬ 
ral  fertility  of  the  country  around  it,  together  with  its  ter¬ 
raced  hills,  was  worthy  of  a  royal  city.  The  bare  fronts  of 
the  close  terraces  of  a  steep  mountain,  as  seen  from  beneath, 
present  to  view  little  or  nothing  but  stones  or  rocks,  and  ten 
or  twelve  olives  are  the  only  relief  to  the  eye  in  surveying  a 
seemingly  sterile  hill.  But  the  whole  was  terraced,  and  yet 
awaits  the  time  when  it  shall  bud  forth  anew.  Another  hill 
of  similar  appearance  was  partially  cultivated.  The  terra¬ 
ces  were  filled  with  fruit,  as  all  those  of  Israel  yet  shall  be  : 
and  the  stony  mountain  side,  as  it  seemed,  till  cultured  anew, 
was  transformed  into  a  rich  hanging  garden.  The  green 
and  close  foliage  of  the  branches  which  the  mountain  shot 
forth,  vines  being  entwined  round  fig-trees  and  pomegran¬ 
ates,  wholly  hid  the  frowning  rock  from  view,  and  presented 
a  smiling  vineyard  in  its  stead.  In  all  the  higher  ground 
desolation  towered  over  it,  and  every  empty  terrace  spoke  of 
a  curse  yet  unremoved  ;  but  the  base  of  the  mountain,  in 
one  beauteous  spot,  formed  a  vineyard  and  a  garden,  which, 
were  it  not  unweeded  from  the  budding  of  the  blossom  to  the 
ripening  of  the  fruit,  would  be  still  worthy  of  Israel,  and 
show  how  the  land  shall  become  like  the  garden  of  Eden. 

Farther  on  the  way  from  Jerusalem  to  Samaria,  in  pass¬ 
ing  through  the  terraced  hills  of  Ephraim,  now  at  best  a  pas¬ 
ture  for  flocks,  but  more  generally  the  resort  of  wild  beasts, 
partial  spots  are  to  be  seen,  as  near  the  village  of  Ain  Jeh- 
rub,  covered  with  vines  and  other  fruit-trees.  In  an  ampler 
space  the  valley  of  Mazrah  shows  how  the  bare  and  bleak 
terraces  were  once  luxuriantly  clothed,  and  in  passing 
through  it  the  traveller  forgets  that  he  sojourns  in  a  desolate 
land.  All  along  the  declivities  of  the  opposite  hills,  and  in 
the  bottom  of  the  valley,  thousands  of  fig  and  olive  trees,  and 
seemingly  in  the  distance  vines,  wholly  cover  the  terraces, 
and,  though  untouched  by  the  primer’s  knife,  and  left  to  Na¬ 
ture’s  care,  a  rich  orchard  spreads  everywhere  around. 

Beyond  it  the  valley  of  Lebonah,  partially  cultivated,  is 
surrounded  by  terraced  hills,  mostly  bare  and  waste — a 
blighted  paradise.  There,  as  of  old,  it  may  be  seen — where 
men  go  to  the  place  lohich  was  in  Shiloh,  where  the  Lord  set 
his  name  at  the  first — what  the  Lord  hath  done  to  it  and  to 
the  land,  because  of  the  wickedness  of  them  that  dwell 
therein  :  yet  even  there  none  can  look  on  the  environs  of  a 


AND  OF  THE  NORTH  OF  SYRIA. 


351 


village,  or  on  the  terraces  ranged  in  order  on  the  surround¬ 
ing  hills,  without  seeing  what  the  Lord  shall  yet  do  for  Is¬ 
rael,  when  his  name  shall  be  set  up  at  the  last  in  Jerusalem, 
and  the  covenant  of  peace  shall  be  established  with  his  peo¬ 
ple. 

Sihor,  with  its  lonely  vale,  whose  inhabitants  came  forth 
to  see  Jesus,  and  many  of  whom,  without  a  miracle  but  that 
of  grace,  believed  on  him  there,  has  hitherto,  in  a  great 
measure,  escaped  the  curse  which  has  lighted  on  the  cities 
that  would  not  hear  the  messenger  of  the  Lord.  Groves  of 
olives,  orchards,  and  gardens  are  intermingled  with  fields  of 
corn,  as  if  the  hill  of  Gerizzim,  at  the  foot  of  which  it  stands, 
yet  echoed  some  of  the  blessings  which  Joshua  read,  while 
all  the  curses,  taken  up  by  the  four  winds  of  heaven,  have 
spread  over  the  land.  Almonds,  oranges,  pomegranates, 
olives,  figs,  peaches,  dates,  may  all  be  gathered  in  a  single 
spot ;  and  as  they  successively  ripen,  the  ground  is  literally 
covered  with  fruit.  The  place  where  Abraham  was  first 
stayed  on  reaching  Canaan,  and  where  Jesus  held  not  his 
hands  as  among  Israelites  to  an  unbelieving  people,  is  a  well 
watered  garden,  and  thus  a  token  of  what  the  land  shall  be 
when  the  day  that  Abraham  saw  afar  off  and  was  glad  shall 
come,  and  all  the  renovated  cities  of  the  land  shall  know 
that  Jesus  is  the  very  Christ.  In  speaking  as  all  the  proph¬ 
ets  spake  of  that  glorious  consummation,  the  mountains  of 
Ephraim  and  Samaria  were  not  forgotten  any  more  than 
those  of  Judah.  Less  blighted  than  these,  they  are  in  many 
places  covered  with  rich  pasture  ;  and  the  terraced  mount¬ 
ains  of  Samaria,  like  that  on  which  its  capital  stood,  need 
no  more  than  the  planting  of  vineyards,  that  the  shoutings 
of  the  vintage,  that  long  have  ceased,  may  return.  They 
too  cry  out  for  the  completion  of  the  promises  of  the  God 
of  Israel.  Thou  shall  yet  plant  vines  upon  the  mountains  of 
Samaria ;  the  planters  shall  plant,  and  shall  eat  them  as  com¬ 
mon  things.  For  there  shall  he  a  day  that  the  watchmen  upon 
Mount  Ephraim  shall  cry,  Arise,  and  let  us  go  up  to  Zion,  to 
the  Lord  our  God.  For  thus  saith  the  Lord,  sing  with  glad¬ 
ness  for  Jacob,  and  shout  among  the  chief  of  the  nations : 
publish  ye,  and  praise  ye,  and  say,  O  Lord,  save  thy  people, 
the  remnant  of  Israel.  Behold,  I  will  bring  thee,  and  gather 
thee,  saith  the  Lord  ;  for  I  am  a  father  to  Israel,  and  Ephra¬ 
im  is  my  frst-born.* 

*  Jer.,  xxxi.,  5-9. 


352  NATURAL  FERTILITY  OF  JUDEA, 

• 

The  glory  of  Jacoh  has  indeed  waxed  thin,  but  some  ves¬ 
tiges  may  thus  still  be  seen  of  what  it  was  :  and  other  ex¬ 
ceptions  to  the  general  desolation  that  has  come  over  the 
mountains  of  Israel  have  been  marked  in  various  directions 
by  passing  travellers.  The  land  has  enjoyed  its  Sabbaths, 
and  has  rested  for  ages  ;  but,  like  that  of  fallowed  or  long- 
pastured  fields,  its  rest  has  not  been  in  vain.  Its  unproduc¬ 
tiveness  in  produce  for  man  during  centuries  past  has  pro¬ 
gressively  increased  ;  and  instead  of  being  reduced  by  un¬ 
ceasing  cropping,  the  soil  has  been  accumulating  from  gen¬ 
eration  to  generation.  The  terraces  are  so  constructed  that 
they  act  as  filters,  and  the  mould,  instead  of  being  washed 
down  the  sides  of  the  hills  by  the  earlier  and  latter  rains, 
has  not  only  been  retained,  but  has  received  new  accessions 
by  the  annual  decay  of  the  rank  grass,  or  the  thickset 
thorns,  and  briers,  and  thistles,  which  grow  in  confirmation 
of  the  threatened  curse,  and  in  preparation  for  the  promised 
blessing.  The  substance  that  is  in  it  is  not  wasted,  but  in¬ 
creased.  The  wild  produce,  often  impenetrable  in  its  rank¬ 
ness,  has  kept  the  mountains  in  continued  manure  ;  and  the 
strangers  who  have  boasted  that  the  mountains  of  Israel 
were  given  unto  them  for  a  possession,  by  the  very  act  of 
extirpating  the  vines  and  destroying  the  vineyards,  have 
made  way  for  a  produce  that  could  not  profit  them,  but 
which  unceasingly  deposited  on  the  surface  of  the  soil  the 
substance  which  the  roots  of  the  thorns  drew  from  the  in¬ 
terstices  of  the  rocks.  The  terraces,  as  it  were,  are  carpet¬ 
ed  all  over  with  low  thorny  plants,  covered  with  thick  prick¬ 
ly  leaves,  which  turn  aside  the  foot  of  the  intruder,  and  pay 
all  their  tribute  to  a  land  which  a  blessing  yet  aw'aits,  till 
Jacob  become  an  inheritor  of  his  own  mountains  again. 
The  desolations  of  many  generations,  during  which  the 
mountains  of  Israel  have  been  always  waste,  have  not  pass¬ 
ed  unprofitably  for  Israel,  though  unproductively  to  aliens. 

While  the  hills  of  Judah  and  of  Ephraim  have  been  rest¬ 
ing  and  gathering  strength  in  their  repose,  labour,  where 
needful,  has  been  called  into  exercise  in  other  lands  than 
those  which  the  Israelites  anciently  possessed,  in  preparation 
for  the  time  when  they  shall  enlarge  the  place  of  their  tent, 
and  stretch  forth  the  curtains  of  their  habitations.  The  peo¬ 
ple  who  have  dwelt  within  their  inheritance,  driven  from 
the  fertile  plains  that  needed  no  culture  to  promote  their  fer¬ 
tility,  have  not  been  idle  in  other  mountains  where  their  la- 


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AND  OF  THE  NORTH  OF  SYRIA. 


353 


hour  would  finally  be  profitable  to  the  rightful  possessors  of 
the  land.  * 

Dan  lay  on  the  south  of  Lebanon,  which,  though  all  in¬ 
cluded  in  the  promised  heritage,  formed  no  part  of  the  land 
in  which  the  Israelites  dwelt.  But  the  Lord  will  bring  his 
people  into  the  land  of  Lebanon*  and  there  the  preparation 
for  their  entering  seems  to  be  completed,  and  the  day  may 
be  at  hand  when  it  shall  be  said.  Is  it  not  yet  a  very  little 
while  and  Lebanon  shall  be  turned  into  a  fertile  field.\ 

“  The  country  of  Kesrouan  (northeast  of  Beyrout),”  says 
Burckhardt,  “  presents  a  most  interesting  aspect ;  on  the 
one  hand  are  steep  and  lofty  mountains  full  of  villages  and 
convents,  built  on  their  rocky  sides,  and  on  the  other  a  fine 
bay,  and  a  plain  of  about  a  mile  in  breadth,  extending  from 
the  mountains  to  the  sea.  There  is  scarcely  any  place  in 
Syria  less  fit  for  culture  than  the  Kesrouan,  yet  it  has  become 
the  most  populous  part  of  the  country.  The  quantity  of  silk 
produced  annually  amounts  to  about  three  hundred  and  thir¬ 
ty  hundred  weight  English.  The  extraordinary  extortions 
of  the  government  are  excessive. 

“  On  the  summit  and  on  the  eastern  side  of  Anti-Libanus 
(between  Damascus  and  Baalbec)  there  are  many  spots  af¬ 
fording  good  pasturage.  It  abounds  also  in  short  oak-trees. 
The  monastery  of  Mar-Elias  has  extensive  grape  and  mul¬ 
berry  plantations,  and  on  the  river  side  a  well-cultivated 
garden.  The  town  of  Zahle  is  surrounded  by  vineyards.il 
The  terraces  in  the  vicinity  of  the  convent  are  covered  with 
vines,®!!  as  recently  seen  and  painted  by  Colonel  Macniven. 
Though  few  in  number  compared  to  those  of  the  mountains 
of  Israel,  which  often  embrace  the  whole  sides  of  successive 
valleys  to  the  very  summits  of  the  hills,  the  view  of  them  as 
in  the  plate  may  convey  to  the  reader  some  idea  of  the  la¬ 
bour  expended  in  ages  past  in  preparation  for  the  fulness  of 
the  covenanted  promises  to  Israel. 

Nothing  can  be  more  striking  than  a  comparison  of  the 
fertile  but  uncultivated  districts  of  Bekaa  and  Baalbec,  with 
the  rocky  mountains  in  the  opposite  direction,  where,  not¬ 
withstanding  that  Nature  seems  to  afford  nothing  for  the 
sustenance  of  the  inhabitants,  numerous  villaoes  flourish, 
and  every  inch  of  ground  is  cultivated.  Bshirrai  is  sur¬ 
rounded  with  fruit-trees,  mulberry  plantations,  vineyards, 

*  Zechariah,  x.,  10.  t  Isaiah,  xxix.,  17.  t  Burckhardt,  p.  182-187,  188, 

h  Ibid.,  p.  20,  21.  II  Ibid.,  p.  7.  1  Ibid.,  p.  7. 

G  G  2 


354 


NATURAL  FERTILITY  OF  JUDEA, 


fields  of  dhouna,  and  other  corn,  though  there  is  scarcely  a 
natural  plain  twenty  feet  square.  The  inhabitants,  with 
great  industry,  build  terraces  to  level  the  ground,  and  pre¬ 
vent  the  earth  from  being  swept  down  by  the  winter  rains, 
and  at  the  same  time  to  retain  the  water  requisite  for  the 
irrigation  of  their  crops.  Water  is  very  abundant,  as  streams 
from  numerous  springs  descend  on  every  side  into  the  Ka- 
desha,  whose  source  is  two  hours  distant  from  Bishinai. 

In  journeying  from  Hamah  to  Tripoli,  Burckhardt  pass¬ 
ed  the  village  of  Mashegad,  in  the  neighbourhood  of  which 
are  large  plantations  of  mulberry-trees,  which  are  watered 
by  numerous  rivulets  descending  on  all  sides  from  the  mount¬ 
ain  into  the  valley,  and  as  few  of  them  dry  up  in  summer, 
it  must  be  a  delightful  residence  during  the  hot  season. 
Travelling  from  thence  for  an  hour  and  a  half,  he  reached 
the  village  of  Soueida,  near  to  which  were  some  plantations 
of  mulberry-trees.  Between  it  and  Nyshaf,  a  considerable 
village,  with  large  plantations  of  the  same  tree,  are  several 
ruined  castles.  Near  it,  at  Shennyn  (an  Anzeyry  village), 
the  declivity  of  the  mountains  is  covered  with  vineyards 
growing  upon  narrow  terraces.  On  the  top  of  the  mountain 
is  ^ne  pasturage,  with  several  springs.  The  romantic  val¬ 
ley  of  Rowyd  is  full  of  mulberry  and  other  fruit-trees. 

*  Crossing  the  wady  at  the  foot  of  the  mountain,  he  contin¬ 
ued  along  its  right  bank  on  the  slope  of  the  mountain,  through 
orchards  and  fields,  till  he  reached  the  foot  of  the  mountain 
upon  which  Kalaat-el-Hopn  is  built.  From  thence  he  de¬ 
scended  to  the  convent  of  Mar  Djordjos,  which  has  large 
vine  and  olive  plantations  in  its  neighbourhood.'*' 

In  crossing  the  mountains  from  Tripoli  to  Baalbec,  some 
rich  and  beautiful  scenes  were  seen  and  described  by  Mr. 
Buckingham.  From  the  summit  of  Jebel  Armeto.  “the 
whole  of  the  plain  below,  with  the  deep  valleys  which  in¬ 
tersect  it,  look  beautiful,  presenting  corn-lands  of  the  fresh¬ 
est  green,  bare  patches  of  ploughed  land,  showing  a  deep- 
red  soil,  and  olive-trees  and  streams  of  water  in  abundance.”! 

The  valley  of  Khezheyah  was  watered  with  a  fine  stream, 
and  presented  on  all  sides  marks  of  active  industry.  In  the 
valley  were  two  or  three  small  villages,  the  ground  about 
which  was  laid  out  in  narrow  slips  or  terraces,  raised  one 
above  another,  in  which  were  planted  corn,  olives,  vines, 
and  mulberries,  and  the  inaccessible  parts  were  covered 

*  Burckhardt,  p.  154,  155,  157,  159,  IGO.  f  Buckingham,  p.  468. 


AND  THE  NORTH  OF  SYRIA. 


355 


with  pines  and  wild  shrubs,  among  which  were  some  fine 
springs  of  excellent  water.  From  thence  he  passed  into  a 
second  valley,  which  was  of  the  most  romantic  kind,  being 
hemmed  in  on  all  sides  by  lofty  cliffs  of  overhanging  rocks, 
so  as  to  remind  one  of  the  happy  valley  of  Rasselas.  The 
steep  sides  of  the  valley  were  laid  out  in  cultivated  terraces 
as  before,  and  the  whole  presented  a  most  interesting  pic¬ 
ture.*  Ascending  to  the  highest  summit  of  Lebanon,  he 
passed  an  elevated  plain  well  covered  with  grain,  before 
reaching  the  village  of  Eden,  where  the  whole  ground,  val¬ 
ley,  hill,  and  plain,  was  cultivated  with  great  industry,  and 
promised  a  harvest  of  abundance.  The  famous  cedars  stand 
at  the  foot  of  the  ridge,  which  forms  the  highest  peak  of  Leb¬ 
anon.  Several  of  the  largest  are  from  10  to  12  feet  in  diam¬ 
eter  at  the  trunk,  with  branches  of  a  corresponding  size  ;  each 
of  them  like  large  trees  extending  outward  from  the  parent 
stock,  and  overshadowing  a  considerable  space  of  ground.f 

From  the  plain  of  Mamre  to  the  heights  of  Lebanon,  bor¬ 
dering  on  the  eternal  snow,  it  may  thus  be  seen  what  trees 
in  all  its  varied  climes  the  promised  land  of  Israel  can  bear. 

In  journeying  from  Homs  to  Tartoos,  or  across  the  hill- 
country  that  lies  between  Lebanon  and  the  entrance  into 
Hamath,  and  again  in  repassirig  them  farther  to  the  north, 
from  Laodicea  to  Antioch,  Mr.  Buckingham  passed  still  rich¬ 
er  and  lovelier  scenes.  The  hills  near  Hussu  were  culti¬ 
vated  to  their  summits  with  corn  and  olives,  which,  added 
to  the  fertility  of  the  plain  itself,  its  light  green  fields,  and 
darker  lines  of  trees,  presented  as  rich  and  beautiful  a  pic¬ 
ture  as  he  had  seen  in  the  country,  though  he  had  visited 
Gilead.  J  We  continued  for  about  three  hours  through  a  val¬ 
ley,  enjoying  a  succession  of  the  most  beautiful  views.  The 
landscape  to  the  north  presented  successive  beds  of  gentle 
hills,  with  a  profusion  of  wood.§  Entering  the  country  of 
the  Neyzery  Arabs  (anciently  of  the  Zemarites  or  Arkites), 
“  one  side,”  he  says,  “  was  through  one  continued  park  of  in¬ 
describable  beauty  ;  and,  although  chiefly  over  level  ground, 
yet  by  the  profusion  of  its  wood,  and  here  and  there  some 
gentle  eminences,  the  landscape  varied  at  every  point  of 
view.  The  state  of  agriculture  was  here,  too,  more  perfect 
and  more  flourishing  than  we  had  hitherto  seen  it  elsewhere. 
The  fields  were  free  from  wood  and  stones,  and  many  of 

*  Bucking-ham’s  Travels  among  the  Arab  Tribes,  p.  469,  470. 

t  Ibid.,  p.  475,  476.  t  Ibid.,  p.  503.  t)  Ibid.,  p.  506. 


356 


NATURAL  FERTILITY  OF  JUDEA, 


them  were  enclosed  by  light  fences  of  twig  work.  Some  of 
the  barley  was  nearly  ripe  for  the  perennial  harvest,  and 
other  grounds  were  tilling  by  four  ploughs  in  succession, 
each  followed  by  a  sower  distributing  the  grain  from  a  bas¬ 
ket  for  the  autumnal  one.  Fine  fat  cattle  were  seen  in  nu¬ 
merous  herds,  with  some  few  buffaloes  among  them,  and  all 
wore  an  appearance  of  wealth,  activity,  and  abundance. 
We  thought  it  remarkable,  therefore,  that  in  all  our  way  from 
Hussu  hence  we  had  not  yet  seen  a  village  of  any  size,  hav¬ 
ing  passed  only  a  few  hamlets  scattered  about  on  the  hills, 
until  about  three  o’clock  we  passed  through  one  called  Yah- 
moora,  where  there  are  extensive  ruins.”* 

The  mountains  of  Amanus,  which,  from  the  northern  por¬ 
tion  of  the  promised  land,  are  rich  in  cedars  and  in  pines, 
&;c.,  and  in  many  places  abound  with  fruit  as  well  as  forest 
trees — vestiges,  among  many  others,  of  “  high  civilization” 
in  ancient  times — show  what  the  farthest  borders  of  the  land 
may  yet  be,  and  how  Israel  may  look,  in  gratitude,  if  not  in 
pride,  from  the  top  of  Amana.  That  mountain  chain,  linking 
the  Mediterranean  to  the  Euphrates,  preserves  to  its  utmost 
bounds  the  character  of  the  land,  which  no  hand  of  man  can 
touch,  a  land  of  hills  and  valleys^  a  land  of  brooks  of  water, 
of  fountains  and  depths,  that  spring  out  of  valleys  and  hills. 
On  the  one  extremity  of  Amanus  we  have  seen  the  valley 
of  the  Orontes,  which  forms  the  entrance  into  Hamath,  than 
which  a  lovelier  might  long  be  sought  for  in  vain  ;  and  on  the 
other,  instead  of  irreclaimable  waste-like  mountains  in  more 
northern  regions,  the  Nezib  hills,  northwest  of  Beer,  are  cel¬ 
ebrated  for  their  olive  groves. f  Another  illustration  of  their 
conjoined  richness  and  beauty  may  be  drawn  from  another 
spot,  while  in  the  vestiges  of  what  these  regions  have  been 
may  be  seen  the  tokens  of  what  they  again  shall  become. 

“  Nothing  can  be  more  beautifully  picturesque,”  says  Mr. 
Robinson,  “  than  the  banks  of  the  Beilan  Sou  ;  the  height 
here  being  often  abrupt,  and  well  clothed  with  trees,  at  pres¬ 
ent  (April  2)  in  full  blossom.  Down  their  sides  several 
tributary  rivulets  fall  into  the  river,  and  descend  in  pretty 
cascades  from  rock  to  rock  towards  the  sea.  Here  and 
there  are  isolated  cottages,  with  patches  of  cultivated  soil 
attached  to  them,  from  which  the  green  corn  is  now  spring¬ 
ing  up.J  In  travelling  through  these  beautiful  regions,  one 

*  Buckingham,  p.  507,  508.  t  Ainsworth’s  Assyria,  p.  298 

%  Robinson’s  Travels  in  Syria,  vol.  ii.,  p.  286. 


AND  OF  THE  NORTH  OF  SYRIA.  357 

is  struck  with  the  magnificence  of  some  of  the  khans,  aque¬ 
ducts,  and  other  works  of  public  utility,  denoting  a  state  of 
great  prosperity  and  high  civilization,  which  everywhere 
present  themselves  ;  but,  though  these  monuments  at  the 
present  day  exhibit  the  marks  of  a  long-standing  neglect, 
no  timely  repairs  are  made,  and  the  work  of  destruction  is 
allowed  to  continue,  as  if  they  belonged  to  no  one,  and  that 
the  soil  was  bereft  of  its  rightful  owners.”* 

Its  rightful  owners  are  the  Israelites,  and  it  will  not  al¬ 
ways  be  bereft  of  them.  Israel,  the  restorer  of  cities  to 
dwell  in,  is  not  yet  on  his  way.  The  Jews  acting  around 
the  exchanges  of  Europe,  and  trampled  on  as  they  have 
been  in  ages  past,  kingdoms  are  now  their  creditors.  The 
time  in  their  history  seems  past,  or  fast  passing  away,  when 
no  man  could  lift  up  his  head ;  and  were  they  now  to  return, 
some  of  them  would  be  taken  from  among  the  chief  men  of 
the  earth.  At  present,  per  centage  is  their  attraction  among 
the  Gentiles  ;  and  they  cling  to  the  stocks  like  needles  to 
a  magnet.  But  were  public  credit  to  be  affected,  and  the 
magnetic  influence  to  be  destroyed,  and  were  a  way  prepa¬ 
red  for  their  return  to  the  land  of  their  fathers,  those  infidel 
Jews  who,  in  great  numbers  throughout  Germany,  now  for 
the  first  time  in  their  history,  deny  that  their  race  shall  re¬ 
turn,  freed  from  the  bonds  that  link  them  to  the  land  of  the 
Gentiles,  might  find  their  strongest  attraction  in  the  land 
which  they  too  at  last  begin  to  despise  ;  for,  whenever  se 
curity  of  possession  can  be  attained,  where  does  per  cent¬ 
age  rank  higher  among  the  exchanges  of  Europe  than  in  a 
purchased  strip  of  land  at  the  foot  of  Amanus  ?  “  There 

is  a  strip  of  land  on  the  banks  of  the  Orontes  which  is  de¬ 
voted  to  the  cultivation  of  the  culinary  vegetables  peculiar 
to  Turkey,  badinjan  (egg-plant),  bamijah,  and  capsicum. 
Ibrahim  Pasha  had  purchased  this  for  sixty  purses,  or  three 
hundred  pounds,  and  farmed  it  out.  It  probably  yielded 
more  than  two  hundred  pounds  a  year  to  the  proprietor.”! 
Before  turning  from  the  mountains  of  Israel,  which  have 
been  a  derision,  may  we  not  ask.  What  would  not  the  whole 
land  yield  were  it  to  overflow  with  the  multitude  of  men 
which  shall  yet  cover  it,  when  the  desolate  wilderness,  in 
which  such  gleaning  grapes  are  left,  shall  become  like  the 
garden  of  Eden 

*  Robinson’s  Travels  in  Syria,  vol.  ii.,  p.  288. 

t  Ainsworth’s  Aesj^ia,  vol.  ii.,  p.  95,  96, 


I 


358 


NATURAL  FERTILITY  OF  JUDEA, 

For  the  farther  solution  of  this  question,  we  must  look 
from  the  mountains  to  the  still  richer  plains,  which  lie  to  the 
west  as  to  the  east  of  the  Dead  Sea  and  the  Jordan,  and  in 
the  north  of  Syria,  as  in  the  kingdom  of  Bash  an. 

The  land  of  Israel  is  a  land  of  hills,  and  valleys,  and 
plains.  Chains  of  hills  and  mountains  extend  from  its  south¬ 
ern  to  its  northern  extremity,  and  thus  impart  a  variety  of 
richness  and  a  diversity  of  climate  to  the  separate  portions 
of  each  tribe,  as  they  are  destined  to  extend  successively 
from  the  bounds  of  the  Red  Sea  to  the  top  of  Amana.  The 
mountains  of  Seir,  the'  hill-country  of  Judea,  the  hills  of 
Ephraim  and  Samaria,  the  goodly  mountain  of  Lebanon,  and 
the  Neyzery  hills  from  thence  to  the  north  of  the  Orontes, 
where  they  border  with  Amanus,  occupy  the  whole  length 
of  the  land  on  the  west  of  the  El-Gha  and  the  Orontes, 
while  the  line  of  the  hills  of  Moab,  of  Gilead,  and  of  Bashan 
is  continued,  valleys  intervening  throughout,  by  the  higher 
range  of  Anti-Lebanon,  which  borders  with  the  land  of  Ha¬ 
math.  The  marvellous  manner  in  which  these  mountains 
were  made  to  contribute  in  rich  abundance  to  the  wants  and 
luxury  of  a  dense  population,  is  of  itself  the  strongest  of  pos¬ 
itive  proofs  that  no  pains  were  spared  in  the  cultivation  of 
the  plains,  and  the  remains  of  numberless  aqueducts  and  cis¬ 
terns  throughout  the  land  show  that  it  once  was  as  a  water¬ 
ed  garden.  Continuous  mountains,  interspersed  with  nu¬ 
merous  valleys,  sheltered  and  watered  plains  as  continuous 
and  extensive  ;  and  from  end  to  end  of  the  land,  these  too 
succeed  each  other,  in  a  natural  richness  and  fertility  so 
great,  that  an  exuberant  produce  called  for  little  toil,  even 
as  the  prodigality  of  the  ground  in  producing  magnificent 
thistles,  and  other  wild  plants  and  thorns,  often  exhibits  in 
their  profusion  a  fecundity  which  renders  the  desolation  as¬ 
tonishing. 

The  plains  of  Philistia,  of  Sharon,  of  Acre,  and  of  Phoe¬ 
nicia,  jointly  extend  along  the  coast  from  the  south  of  Pal¬ 
estine  to  the  base  of  Mount  Casius.  The  ridge  of  Carmel 
hy  the  sea  divides  the  plain  of  Sharon  from  that  of  Acre,  and 
from  the  great  plain  of  Esdraelon  ;  and  where  Lebanon 
touches  the  coast,  it  divides  for  a  short  space  the  Phoenician 
plains.  In  the  interior  of  the  land,  the  valleys  of  the  Jor¬ 
dan,  the  Kasmich,  and  the  Orontes  extend  from  the  Dead 
Sea  to  Amanus,  the  rivers  of  which  flow  through  extensive 
plains  ere  they  reach  the  Euphrates. 


NI-;W  'i'OHK.HAKl’I'lK  .V  M  lU )'!’ 1 1 1  K  S,  UU  i 


AND  OF  THE  NORTH  OF  SYRIA. 


359 


The  natural  fertility  of  these  immense  plains,  which  thus 
overspread  the  land,  is  such,  that  one  general  description  of 
a  good  land  might  suffice  for  all.  Each,  compared  with  what 
it  has  been,  is  as  a  field  that  has  been  reaped  ;  but  a  glean¬ 
ing  is  left  in  them  all.  The  harvest  is  past,  but  there  is  the 
promise  of  a  better.  Many  pastors  have  destroyed  the  vine¬ 
yard  of  the  Lord,  and  have  trodden  his  pleasant  portioijijm- 
der  foot ;  but  if  the  hills  have  profited  by  the  thorns  which 
have  come  upon  them,  the  wild  but  still  more  luxuriant 
produce  which  the  plains  have  yielded  has  also  rendered 
the  land  moxG  fat  than  it  was  ;  and  it  has  not  been  pastured, 
and  in  a  great  measure  untilled,  for  ages  in  vain.  The  fal¬ 
low  of  a  single  year,  or  the  pasturage  of  a  few,  renews  the 
strength  of  cultivated  grounds,  and  fits  them  for  a  repetition 
of  successive  crops.  But  the  land  of  Israel,  while  trodden 
down  of  the  Gentiles,  has  rested  for  ages,  and  has  refused 
to  own  any  other  people  as  its  heirs  or  rightful  possessors, 
while  those  to  wffiom  the  Lord  gave  it  for  an  heritage  have 
been  scattered  abroad.  The  substance  is  in  it,  not  less,  but 
rather  more  than  ever  ;  and  witnesses  remain  to  show  what 
it  yet  can  yield.  Age  after  age  has  increased  its  desolation, 
but  the  wild  verdure  and  the  withered  grass  have  fallen  year 
by  year  on  its  native  soil,  to  enrich  it  the  more :  and,  as  in 
the  mountains,  continued  preparation  has  been  made  for  the 
final  completion  of  the  promises  of  the  Lord  to  Israel,  that 
he  will  do  better  unto  them  than  at 'their  beginnings,  when 
the  sons  of  the  aliens  shall  not  only  build  their  walls,  but 
also  be  their  ploughmen  and  their  vine-dressers.  For  your 
shame  ye  shall  have  double^  and  for  confusion  they  shall  re¬ 
joice  in  their  portion  ;  therefore  in  their  land  they  shall  pos¬ 
sess  the  double,  everlasting  joy  shall  be  upon  them.* 

■  On  the  southern  extremity  of  the  plain  of  Philistia,  the 
soil  is  seen  to  the  depth  of  eight  or  ten  feet,  or  so  far  as 
the  winter  torrents  have  anywhere  penetrated  through  the 
ground  and  laid  it  open  to  view  ;  yet  such  is  the  existing 
desolation,  that  in  so  deep  a  soil  and  so  delicious  a  climate, 
ten  or  twelve  trees — all  that  the  travellers  can  count  stand¬ 
ing  singly  and  far  apart,  in  a  wide-spread  plain — or  forty  or 
fifty  in  another  part  of  it,  sprinkled  somewhat  less  sparingly 
in  an  extensive  view,  like  a  solitary  palm  in  the  plain  of 
Jericho,  are  the  last  sad  mourners  over  the  departed  glory 
of  Jacob,  the  fatness  of  whose  flesh  has  thus  been  made 

*  Isa,,  Ixi.,  5,  7. 


3G0 


NATURAL  FERTILITY  OF  JUDEA 


lean.  Yet,  just  because  they  stand  so  far  between  in  soli¬ 
tariness  now,  the  bare  remnants  of  fallen  orchards  or  for¬ 
ests,  they  may  be  the  first  of  those  trees  which,  in  the  ex¬ 
pressive  language  of  Scripture,  shall  clap  their  hands  when 
the  joy  of  the  land,  shall  return,  and  when  instead  of  the  thorn 
shall  come  up  the  fg-tree,  and  instead  of  the  brier  shall  come 
up  t^e  myrtle-tree ;  and  it  shall'he  to  the  Lord  for  a  name 
and  for  an  everlasting  sign  that  shall  not  he  cut  off  forever  f 
even  as  they  are  now  the  sufficient  witnesses  that  his  judg¬ 
ments  were  not  altogether  exterminating,  but  that  a  very 
small  remnant  is  left,  that  the  land  of  I&rael  should  not  be 
like  unto  Sodom  and  Gomorrah.  The  last  of  their  race  in 
ages  past  may  well  be  the  first  of  another,  which  shall  never 
thus  be  reduced  again  while  the  ordinances  of  heaven  shall 
stand,  and  the  promises  to  the  patriarchs  be  confirmed  ;  for 
while  the  scriptural  figure  is  ever  so  true  to  the  past,  and 
the  gleaning  grapes  alone  are  left,  it  seems  as  emphatically 
to  forbid  that  these  sole  and  solitary  memorials,  now  scarcely 
spared,  should  also  disappear  till  the  land  be  visited  by  its 
own  children  again,  that  something  in  the  desolated  plain, 
as  in  the  ruined  cities,  may  be  left  to  the  house  of  Israel. 

But,  however  few,  there  are  also  some  groups  and  groves 
of  figs  or  olives,  and  other  fruits,  which  still  show  that  the 
trees  of  the  land  did  not  always  stand  alone  in  the  plains 
any  more  than  in  the  hills. 

The  days  come  when  every  Israelite  shall  call  his  neigh¬ 
bour  under  the  vine  and  under  the  fg-tree  and,  as  an  em¬ 
blem  of  that  lime,  the  weary  stranger  from  a  far  land  may 
sometimes  bend  his  way  to  a  cluster  of  trees  (as  at,  Deir- 
Esnaib),  and,  as  the  writer  may  testify,  find  refreshing 
shelter  under  the  deep  shade  of  the  finest  fig-trees  he  ever 
saw  ;  while  hundreds  of  plums  and  apricots  may  be  brought 
to  him,  for  which  a  single  piaster  {2^d.)  is  deemed  ample 
payment.  The  close  olive  grove,  extending  for  miles,  near 
Gaza,  is  full  of  trees,  compared  to  which  the  olives  of 
Provence  are  like  shrubs.  Vines  may  there  be  seen  en¬ 
twined  around  fig-trees  ;  the  luscious  pomegranates,  in  their 
season,  may  be  seen,  as  at  Nablous,  covering  the  ground. 
Lofty  hedges  of  the  Indian  fig  and  prickly  pear,  the  com¬ 
mon  and  impenetrable  fence  of  the  remaining  gardens  of 
Syria,  there  line  each  side  of  the  road,  each  leaf  of  which, 
with  its  thorny  points,  might  well  outweigh  the  flower-pot 

Isa.  Iv.,  12,  13.  f  Zech.,  iii.,  10. 


AND  OF  THE  NORTH  OF  SYRIA. 


361 


plants  of  the  same  species  in  the  greenhouses  of  England ; 
and  fallen  as  Syria  is,  these  hedges  are  covered  vidth  fruit. 
The  soil  of  the  gardens  of  Gaza  “  is  exceeding  rich  and 
productive.  The  apricots  are  delicious  and  abundant.  The 
fertile  soil  produces  in  abundance  grains  and  fruits  of  every 
kind,  and  of  the  finest  quality.”* 

Figs,  pomegranates,  watermelons,  renowned  for  their  ex¬ 
cellence,  grow  luxuriantly  and  abundantly  in  the  gardens  of 
Jaffa,  the  ancient  Joppa,  which  opens  out  into  the  plain  of 
Sharon,  apparently  “  extremely  fertile,  but  only  partially 
cultivated,  and  still  less  inhabited.”!  “  All  this  country,” 
says  Pococke,  “  is  a  very  rich  soil,  and  throws  up  a  great 
quantity  of  herbage,  very  rank  thistles,  rue,  and  fennel,  and 
a  great  variety  of  anemones,  and  many  beautiful  tulips. ”| 
The  plain  of  Sharon,  extending  to  the  hills  of  Judea  on  the 
east,  and  Carmel  on  the  north,  has  lost  all  richness  and 
beauty  but  what  the  earth  itself  retains,  and  the  wildness 
of  nature  supplies.  But  while  the  vast  herbage  enriches 
the  soil,  the  traveller,  whose  face  is  not  lighted  up  by  the 
hope  of  better  days  to  come,  is  “  oppressed  with  a  species 
of  melancholy  which  he  is  at  a  loss  to  account  for,  seeing 
no  cause  for  the  existence  of  such  a  state  of  things  but  the 
curse  which  has  come  upon  the  land.”  Bashan  and  Car¬ 
mel  shake  off  their  fruits,  and  Sharon  is  like  a  wilderness.^ 
But,  as  the  same  prophet  looking  to  Israel’s  return,  has 
said.  The  wilderness  and  the  solitary  place  shall  be  glad 
for  them  ;  the  glory  of  Lebanon  shall  return  unto  it ;  the  ex¬ 
cellency  of  Carmel  and  Sharon,  they  shall  see  the  glory  of 
the  Lord,  and  the  excellency  of  our  God.||  Sharon  shall 
be  a  fold  for  flocks,  and  the  valley  of  Achor  a  place  for  the 
herds  to  lie  down,  for  the  people  that  have  sought  me.®f[ 
The  large  and  fertile  of  Acre,  as  seen  and  described 
by  Pocock^e,  was  exceedingly  rich,  and,  towards  the  east, 
well  cultivated  with  cotton  and  corn.  Its  soil  resembles 
the  dark  loam  of  Egypt,  and  is  now  chiefly  covered  with 
large  thistles.**  “  The  fine  plain  of  Zabulon,  extending  to 
die  plain  of  Esdraelon,  was,  a  century  ago,  a  fruitful  spot, 
ill  covered  with  corn.”tt  A  few  years  later,  Hasselquist, 
Fe  pupil  of  Linnaeus,  and  to  whom  his  letters  were  ad¬ 
dressed,  journeying  from  Acre  to  Nazareth,  first  passed 

Robin.'!on  and  Smith’s  Tiav.,  vo'  ii.,  p.  376,  S?7 
^  Mr.  Robinson  \  Tra\  vol.  i.,  p.  25.  t  Poccx  Xe’s  Travels,  p.  5. 

Isa,,  K'jciii.,  II  Ibid  ,  s  xxv.,  ?.  2.  -f  Ibit’  .  ixv.,  10. 

'  'oix, )  iM'.  b.  eking)  p  62  t  Ib  d.  D.  fll. 

"I  nr  T 

h  H 


362 


NATURAL  FERTILITY  OF  JUDEA, 


through  corn-fields  which  surrounded  the  remains  of  an 
ancient  town,  and  afterward  came  to  a  field  about  three 
miles  wide,  which  bore  every  year  a  quantity  of  good  cot¬ 
ton.  From  thence  he  passed  through  small  hills,  or  rising 
grounds  covered  with  plants,  and  having  fine  valleys  be¬ 
tween  them,  and  afterward  the  country  around  consisted  of 
the  finest  groves  of  the  eastern  oak  (Quercus  conifera). 
He  then  entered  on  the  fine  plain  of  Zabulon,  covered  with 
cotton,  at  the  end  of  which  was  a  fine  grove  of  oaks,  inter¬ 
spersed  with  beech.  He  traversed  a  land  then  more  beau¬ 
teous  and  better  cultivated  than  it  is  now,  and  which  re¬ 
tained  some  evidence,  which  it  has  since  lost,  that  it  was 
once  a  land  flowing  with  milk  and  honey.  He  saw  nu¬ 
merous  beehives  at  the  village  of  Sephoury,  and,  ascending 
Tabor,  was  refreshed  by  the  milk  of  its  fine  herds  of  cattle. 
A  fine  country,  covered  with  forests,  lay  between  Nazareth 
and  Tabor.  The  extensive  plain  of  Esdraelon,  only  par¬ 
tially  cultivated,  was  then  an  occasional  scene  of  Arab  war¬ 
fare.  Treading  the  vineyard  of  the  Lord  under  foot,  the 
oxen  and  cows  of  Galilee  constituted  “  a  remarkable  part  of 
the  riches  of  the  country.”*  It  is  now  almost  entirely  de¬ 
serted,  except  by  the  wandering  Arabs. 

Mount  Tabor,  rising  from  the  plain  of  Esdraelon,  of  Jez- 
reel,  or  Megidda,  is  on  one  side  covered  with  oaks  and  other 
trees,  and  bare  on  the  other  (see  Plate).  The  view  of  it 
may  convey  some  idea  of  the  desolation  that  has  overspread 
the  land.  At  its  base  lies  one  of  the  most  fertile  plains  on 
earth,  the  wild  and  luxuriant  herbage  of  which  has  added 
for  ages  to  the  fatness  of  the  soil.  Studded,  as  it  was  in 
ancient  times,  with  cities  and  large  villages,  many  pastors, 
with  their  flocks  of  cattle,  camels,  sheep,  and  goats,  have 
long  trodden  it  under  foot.  Not  a  town  or  village  is  visible 
to  the  naked  eye  from  the  top  of  Tabor,  and  very  few  with 
the  aid  of  the  glass.  The  Bedouin  tribes  are  to  this  day 
seen  living  there  under  tents  surrounded  by  their  flocks,  for 
the  sake  of  the  rich  pasture  it  affords. f  In  many  places  it 
is  closely  covered  with  briers  and  thorns,  in  others  “  beauti¬ 
fully  variegated  with  immense  fields  of  thistles  and  wild 
flowers,  giving  the  whole  plain  the  appearance  of  a  carpet- 
ed  floor.”J  It  is  resting  for  a  richer  produce  than  it  has 
ever  yielded ;  but  it  shall  also  be  the  scene  of  heavier  judg- 

*  Hasselquist,  p.  153,  154  t  Mr.  Robinson’s  Trav.,  vol.  i.,  p.  214,  215. 

t  Narrative,  p,  402. 


AND  OF  THE  NORTH  OF  SYRIA. 


363 


merits  than  it  has  ever  witnessed,  ere  the  land  be  redeemed 
from  its  curse.  In  the  first  ages  of  Jewish  history,  as  well 
as  during  the  Roman  Empire  and  the  Crusades,  and  even 
in  later  times,  it  has  been  the  scene  of  many  a  memorable 
contest,  and  perhaps  no  soil  has  ever  been  so  saturated  with 
human  gore.”*  But  great  shall  be  the  day  of  Jezreel\ — 
greater  far  than  it  has  ever  seen.  Never  yet  has  any  land 
been  so  saturated  with  human  gore  that  the  blood  came  up 
to  the  horses’  bridlesf 

“  The  vast  plain  of  Jericho  is  rich,  and  susceptible  of  easy 
tillage,  an  abundant  irrigation,  and  a  climate  to  produce  any¬ 
thing  ;  yet  it  lies  almost  a  desert,  and  it  needs  only  the  hand 
of  cultivation  to  become  one  of  the  richest  and  most  beauti¬ 
ful  spots  on  the  face  of  the  earth.  The  valley  of  Jordan  (of 
which  it  forms  part)  is  for  the  most  part  susceptible  of  being 
rendered  in  the  highest  degree  productive,  in  connexion  with 
the  abundance  of  water  and  heat  of  the  climate.  Indeed,  its 
fertility  has  been  celebrated  in  every  age,”*^  and,  on  the  op¬ 
posite  extremity  of  the  Lake  of  Tiberias,  the  fertile  valley 
extends  to  the  sources  of  the  Jordan.  “  As  we  descended 
towards  Paneas,”  says  Captains  Irby  and  Mangles,  “  we 
found  the  country  extremely  beautiful ;  great  quantities  of 
wild  flowers,  and  a  variety  of  shrubs  just  budding,  together 
with  the  richness  of  the  verdure  of  the  grass,  corn,  and  beans, 
showed  us  at  once  the  beauties  of  spring  (Feb.  24).  The 
neighbourhood  of  Paneas  is  extremely  beautiful,  richly  wood¬ 
ed,  and  abounds  with  game.  In  ascending  from  Lake  Ho- 
reb  (Miram)  to  Saphed,  the  plain  we  had  quitted  was  liter¬ 
ally  covered  with  wild  geese,  ducks,  widgeon,  snipe,  and 
water-fowl  of  every  description. ”||  A  fine  plain  watered 
with  numerous  tributary  streams,  westward  of  Paneas,  and 
many  old,  ruined  mills,  testify  to  the  ancient  fruitfulness  and 
comparative  desolation  of  a  region  where  Crusaders  carried 
off  a  spoil  unheard  of  in  European  territories.  The  greater 
part  of  the  plain  is  uncultivated,  but  luxuriant  wild  oats  cov¬ 
er  many  fields,  which  men  have  ceased  to  cultivate. 

Beyond  the  ancient  frontier  of  Israel,  the  land  yet  to  be 
possessed  is  not  less  fertile,  whether  in  the  plains  or  mount¬ 
ains,  than  that  which  the  Israelites  occupied  of  old. 

The  space  between  Sidon  and  the  mountains  of  Lebanon, 

*  Mr.  Robinson’s  Trav.,  vol.  i.,  p.  214.  ,  t  Hosea,  i.,  11. 

I  Rev.,  xiv.,  20.  ^  Robinson  and  S'nith,  vol.  ii.,  p.  279-286,  289. 

II  Irby  and  Mangles,  p.  286-291 . 


364 


NATURAL  FERTILITY  OF  JUDEA, 


as  described  by  Pococke,  was  wnolly  laid  out  in  gardens  or 
orchards,  which  appeared  very  beautiful  at  a  distance.  “I 
was  one  day,”  he  says,  “entertained  by  the  French  mer¬ 
chants  with  a  collation  in  a  garden  under  the  shade  of  apri¬ 
cot-trees  ;  and  the  fruit  of  them  was  shaken  on  us,  as  an  in¬ 
stance  of  their  great  plenty  and  abundance.  Richly-culti¬ 
vated  gardens,  with  tall,  verdant  trees,  still  cover  the  plain.”* 

The  great  plain  of  Phoenicia,  between  both  the  Lebanon 
and  Anzeyry  Mountains  and  the  sea,  is  naturally  very  fer¬ 
tile,  and  “  no  place  could  be  better  watered  than  it  is  by  the 
numerous  streams  or  rivers  which  traverse  it ;  but  it  is  now 
nearly  deserted,  and  only  partially  cultivated,  the  cultivators 
being  chiefly  the  Anzeyrys  who  inhabit  the  mountains.”! 

On  the  opposite  side  of  the  mountains,  the  valleys  of  Be- 
kaa  and  the  Orontes  present  throughout  a  vast  expanse  of 
successive  plains,  extending  for  more  than  two  hundred 
miles,  scarcely  less  desolate,  or  less  tempting  to  the  culti¬ 
vator,  than  the  plains  of  the  Belkah  or  the  Haouran. 

“  The  plain  between  Deir-el-Ahmer  and  Baalbec  is  fer¬ 
tile  to  a  degree,  but  apparently  uncultivated.  There  are  no 
villages  within  sight  of  the  road.”J  Not  a  sixth  part  of  the 
'plain  of  Bekaa  is  cultivated  between  Zahl  and  Baalbec. § 
The  district,  like  that  of  Bekaa,  is  fertile,  but  uncultivated. 
The  vast  plain  of  Homs  (Emesa)  is  beautiful,  and  of  almost 
unequalled  fertility.  The  plain  of  Hamah  exceeds  even 
that  of  Floms  in  the  fertility  of  its  soil,  but  is  still  less  culti¬ 
vated  than  that  of  the  Bekaa.  “  The  lower  tract,  called 
El-Huleh,  is  not  less  remarkable  for  its  fertility.  But  these 
plains,  though  so  fertile  by  nature,  are,  like  most  of  the  plains 
of  Syria,  less  cultivated  than  the  mountains.  The  district 
of  Selomya,  lying  east  of  the  Asy  (Orontes),  was  described 
as  exceeding  even  the  neighbourhood  of  Homs  and  Hamah 
in  the  fertility  of  its  soil.  It  was  (in  1834)  entirely  desert¬ 
ed.  |1  These  plains  retain  all  their  natural  fertility,  as  when 
Seleucus  Nicator  and  his  successors  maintained,  in  the  vi¬ 
cinity  of  Apamea,  five  thousand  elephants,  three  thousand 
breeding  mares,  and  a  great  part  of  his  army.*!!  The  plain 
of  Alaks,  supposed  to  be  that  in  which  Aurelian  conquered 
Zenobia,  and  in  which  the  traveller  now  counts  many  sites 
of  ruins,  consists  of  a  fine  loamy  soil,  now  left  desolate  and 

*  Pococke,  p.  86.  Narrative,  p.  349. 

t  Van  Egmont  and  Ileyman,  p.  307,  308.  Mr.  Robinson,  p.  67,  71.  Irby  and  Man¬ 
gles,  &c.  t  Mr.  Robinson,  vol.  ii.,  p.  92.  ^  Burckhardt,  p.  8. 

I!  Robinson  and  Smith,  vol.  iii.,  App.,  p.  174,  176,  178.  Strabo,  p  1068. 


AND  OF  THE  NORTH  OF  SYRIA.  365 

uninhabited.*  plains  of  Kiftein,  southwest  of  Aleppo, 

are  of  vast  compass,  extending  to  the  southward  beyond  the 
reach  of  the  eye,  and  are  in  most  places  very  fruitful.  Near 
Kiftein  are  more  dovecots  than  houses.f  The  great  plain 
of  Uruk  contains  the  Lake  of  Antioch  in  its  centre.  The 
plain  of  Daena,  which  is  very  level,  is  badly  supplied  with 
water ;  but  it  once  has  been,  and  still  is,  remarkable  for  its 
fertility.  It  extends  to  the  foot  of  Mount  St.  Simon  on  the 
one  side,  and  on  the  south  beyond  the  visible  horizon. J  The 
gardens  of  Aleppo  have  lost  for  a  time  their  high  renown, 
but  the  slopes  of  the  hills  which  border  both  sides  of  the 
river  are  laid  out  into  vineyards,  olive  plantations,  and  fig- 
gardens.*^  There,  as  throughout  most  places  in  Syria,  the 
abundance  of  game  is  astonishing.  Every  day,  say  Irby 
and  Mangles,  we  had  either  woodcocks  or  partridges,  wild 
geese  or  ducks,  teal,  the  bustard,  or  wild  turkey, 1|  &c. 

These  extracts,  brief  and  incomplete  as  they  are,  may, 
from  the  ample  evidence  which  they  impart,  leave  some  im¬ 
pression  on  the  reader’s  mind  of  the  vast  extent,  reaching 
from  end  to  end,  of  the  land,  and  of  the  astonishing  fertility, 
and  no  less  astonishing  desolation  of  the  plains  which  per¬ 
tain  to  the  covenanted  inheritance  of  Israel. 

Colonel  Chesney’s  work  on  the  Euphrates  Expedition, 
now  in  the  press,  with  many  of  the  proof-sheets  of  which  he 
kindly  furnished  the  writer  of  these  pages,  will  throw  a  new 
light  on  these  regions,  long  mostly  unknown  to  the  world, 
of  which  they  held  as  long  the  chief  dominion.  As  the  first 
spot  on  which  the  Euphrates  Expedition  landed  has  been 
thereby  exalted  into  an  illustration  of  the  facility  with  which 
a  once  noble  city  of  Syria  could  be  restored,  so  also  the  spot 
at  which  they  rested  may  illustrate  how  the  promised  land, 
embracing  all  the  regions  to  the  west  of  the  Euphrates,  has 
still  a  sign  to  show  in  its  utmost  bounds,  on  the  south  as 
well  as  on  the  north,  what  it  yet  shall  be,  when  desolated 
wastes  shall  become  like  watered  gardens. 

“  The  country  (on  the  liOwer  Euphrates)  produces  great 
quantities  of  barley  and  wheat,  in  their  wild  as  well  as  cul¬ 
tivated  state.  Onions,  spinach,  and  beans  are  the  usual 
vegetables,  and  these  are  largely  cultivated  along  the  sides 
of  the  rivers,  where,  just  after  the  water  recedes,  the  prog¬ 
ress  of  vegetation  is  surprising.  Some  idea  may  be  form- 

*  Irby  and  Mangles,  p.  231.  t  Maundrell,  p.  8. 

i  Ainsworth’s  Assyria,  p.  96,  98.  ^  Mr.  Robinson,  vol.  ii.,  p.  264, 

II  Irby  and  Mangles,  p.  233. 

H  H  2 


366  NATURAL  FERTILITY  OF  JUDEA,  ETC. 

ed  of  the  productive  qualities  of  the  soil,  from  the  fact  of 
eight  crops  of  clover  having  been  cut  in  the  neighbourhood 
of  Basrah  during  the  year.”* 

The  desolation  and  depopulation  of  the  land,  given  up,  as 
in  a  great  measure  it  is,  to  the  beasts  of  the  field  and  to  the 
fowds  of  the  air,  may  have  multiplied  game,  while  the  fish  of 
the  rivers,  however  abundant,  suffer  little  diminution  from 
the  hand  of  man.  “  Hares,  black  and  stone-coloured  par¬ 
tridges,  francolins,  bramin,  and  common  wild  geese,  ducks, 
teal,  pelicans,  cranes,  &;c.,  are  abundant.  The  rivers  are 
full  of  fish,  chiefly  barbed,  and  carp,  which  latter  grows  to 
an  enormous  size  in  the  Euphrates.”!  Upper  Mesopotamia, 
like  the  district  south  of  the  Khabur,  abounds  with  the  ordi¬ 
nary  kinds  of  grain,  and  the  fruits  of  a  warmer  temperature, 
such  as  oranges,  grapes,  and  pomegranates  (which  are  par¬ 
ticularly  fine)  ;  walnuts,  pistachios,  and  other  products  of  a 
colder  region,  are  equally  good.  Of  game,  the  country  about 
Port  William  (Ulan  Beer)  has  at  one  season  the  aigrette,  the 
parrot,  stork,  flamingo,  bustard,  and  the  Tardus  Seleucus, 
which  are  succeeded  by  wild  geese,  ducks,  teal,  swans, 
snipes,  tern,”J  &c.  The  Euphrates  turtle  (Trionyx  Euphra 
tica),  as  Mr.  Ainsworth  states,  abounds  in  large  muddy  pools. 
The  dates  of  the  Lower  Euphrates  excel  those  of  Tafitah, 
and  are  decidedly  finer  than  any  produced  along  the  Nile. 
This  region  is  well  adapted  for  the  growth  of  cotton,  sugar, 
indigo,  and  many  of  the  fruits  of  a  warm  climate.  About  the 
Khabur  the  date-tree  (palm)  almost  ceases  to  bear  ;  but  or¬ 
anges,  grapes,  pears,  apples,  and  other  fruits  and  grain,  ar¬ 
rive  at  perfection. § 

“  The  soil  of  Mesopotamia  (on  the  eastern  side  of  the  Eu¬ 
phrates)  is  generally  a  sandy  clay,  the  surface  of  which,  in 
the  absence  of  water,  is  a  positive  desert ;  but  wherever  it  is 
watered  by  the  numerous  inlets  and*  irrigating  canals  branch¬ 
ing  from  the  different  rivers,  it  is  rich  and  productive  in  the 
extreme.”  The  renewal  of  irrigation  would  revive  anew 
both  sides  of  the  same  river,  as  it  flows  through  a  plain. 
But  though  first  Israel,  and  then  Judah,  were  carried  captive 
beyond  the  river,  Mesopotamia  itself,  extending  upward  of 
seven  hundred  miles  in  length,  and  one  hundred  and  seventy 
miles  at  its  greatest  breadth,  is  but  a  part  of  Assyria,  all  of 
which  must  finally  own  the  sovereignty  of  Israel. 

*  Chap,  vi.,  p.  108.  t  Ibid.  t  Ibid.  Ibid.,  p.  106. 


I 


J 


OONCLUglON. 


367 


CONCLUSION. 

From  tlie  previous  details,  a  few  concluding  words  may 
suffice  for  a  succinct  delineation  of  Syria,  or  the  promised 
land  of  Israel,  which  may  but  be  given  in  the  words  of  Vol- 
ney.  “  It  was  reserved  for  him,”  says  Malte  Brun,  one  of 
the  first  authorities  in  geography,  “  to  present  the  world  with 
a  complete  picture  of  Syria.”  So  complete  was  that  picture 
— inferior,  in  the  variety  of  its  discriminating  features,  to 
none  but  that  which  was  drawn  by  the  prophets  of  old— 
that,  as  we  have  elsewhere  shown,  he  has  supplied  many 
most  precise  and  literal  illustrations  of  the  prophecies  which 
have  gone  forth  against  it.  But  in  his  day  the  land  had  not 
fully  reached  its  last  prophetic  degree  of  desolation  and  depop¬ 
ulation.  The  population,  rated  by  Volney  at  two  millions  and 
a  half,  is  now  estimated  at  half  that  amount. 

The  soil  in  the  plain  of  Syria  “  is  rich  and  loamy,  and  in¬ 
dicates  the  greatest  fecundity.  In  the  territory  of  Aleppo  it 
resembles  very  fine  brick-dust.  Almost  everywhere  else  the 
earth  is  brown,  and  as  fine  as  garden  mould.”* 

The  difference  of  latitude  between  the  different  extremi¬ 
ties  of  Syria — equal  to  that  from  Cornwall  to  Caithness — 
gives  rise  of  itself  to  variety  of  temperature  ;  but  other  nat¬ 
ural  causes  far  more  powerfully  tend,  even  in  continuous  lo¬ 
calities,  to  diversify  the  climate  in  a  very  remarkable,  if  not 
unparalleled  degree.  The  palms  in  the  deep  valley  of  the 
Jordan  flourished  in  the  greatest  luxuriance  in  a  tropical  cli¬ 
mate,  while  the  magnificent  cedars  of  Lebanon  show  how 
goodly  is  the  produce  of  the  land  in  its  highest  elevations, 
and  in  the  vicinity  of  eternal  snow. 

Along  the  coast  of  Syria,  and  at  Tripoli  in  particular,  ac¬ 
cording  to  Volney,  “  the  lowest  to  which  the  thermometer 
falls  in  winter  is  eight  or  nine  degrees  above  the  freezing 
point  (40°  or  41°  of  Fahrenheit).  In  winter,  therefore,  all 
the  chain  of  mountains  is  covered  with  snow,  while  the  low¬ 
er  country  is  always  freed  from  it,  or,  at  least,  it  lies  a  very 
short  time.  In  the  lower  plains,  the  winter  is  so  mild  along 
the  seacoast  that  the  orange,  palm,  banana,  and  other  deli- 

*  Voliiey’s  Travels,  chap,  xxi.,  ^  6. 


368 


CONCLUSION. 


cate  trees  flourish  in  the  open  air.  In  Syria  diflerent  cli¬ 
mates  are  thus  united  under  the  same  sky  ;  and  in  a  narrow 
compass,  pleasures  and  productions,  which  Nature  has  else¬ 
where  dispersed  at  great  distances,  are  collected.  With  us, 
for  instance,  seasons  are  divided  by  months,  there  by  hours. 
If  in  Saide  or  Tripoli  we  feel  the  heat  of  summer  trouble¬ 
some,  in  six  hours, we  are  in  the  neighbouring  motSntains,  in 
the  temperature  of  March  (in  France) ;  or,  again,  if  chilled 
in  the  frosts  of  December  at  Beshirri,  a  day’s  journey  brings 
us  to  the  coast,  amid  the  flowers  of  May.  The  Arabian  po¬ 
ets  have  therefore  said  that  the  Sannim  (Lebanon)  bears 
winter  on  his  head,  spring  upon  his  shoulders,  and  autumn 
in  his  bosom,  while  summer  lies  sleeping  at  his  feet.  “  I 
have  myself,”  says  Volney,  “  experienced  this  figurative  ob¬ 
servation  during  the  eight  months  I  resided  at  the  monastery 
of  Marhanna,  seven  leagues  from  Beyrout.  At  the  end  of 
February,  at  Tripoli,  a  variety  of  vegetables  were  in  perfec¬ 
tion,  and  many  flowers  in  full  bloom.  The  early  figs  were 
past  at  Beyrout  when  they  were  first  gathered  with  us.” 

To  this  advantage,  which  perpetuates  enjoyments  by  their 
succession,  Syria  adds  a  second,  that  of  multiplying  them 
by  the  variety  of  its  productions.  Were  nature  aided  by  art, 
those  of  the  most  distant  countries  might  be  produced  with- 
'in  twenty  leagues.  At  present,  notwithstanding  the  barba¬ 
rism  of  a  government  which  is  inimical  to  all  industry  and 
improvement,  we  are  astonished  at  the  variety.  Besides 
wheat,  barley,  rye,  beans,  and  the  cotton  plant,  which  is 
(was)  everywhere  cultivated,  we  find  many  useful  and  agree¬ 
able  productions,  appropriated  to  different  situations.  In 
Palestine  sesamum  abounds,  from  which  they  procure  oil, 
and  dourra  (a  kind  of  pulse)  as  good  as  that  of  Egypt. 
Maize  thrives  in  the  light  soil  of  Baalbec  ;  and  even  rice  is 
cultivated  with  success  on  the  borders  of  the  marshy  coun¬ 
tries  of  Havula.  They  have  lately  begun  to  cultivate  sugar- 
canes  in  the  gardens  of  Saide  and  of  Beyrout,  equal  to  those 
of  the  Delta.  Indigo  grows  without  cultivation  on  the  banks 
of  the  Jordan,  in  the  country  of  Bisan,  and  needs  but  care 
to  improve  the  quality.  Tobacco  is  now  cultivated  through¬ 
out  all  the  mountains.  As  for  trees,  the  olive  of  Provence 
grows  at  Antioch,  and  at  Ramlah  to  the  height  of  the  beech. 
In  the  white  mulberry-tree  consists  the  wealth  of  the  whole 
country  of  the  Druses,  by  the  beautiful  silk  which  it  produ¬ 
ces  ;  while  the  vine,  supported  by  poles,  or  winding  about 


CONCLUSION. 


369 


the  oaks,  supplies  grapes,  which  afford  red  and  white  wines 
equal  to  those  of  JBourdeaux.  The  watermelons  of  Jaffa 
are  preferred  before  the  very  fine  watermelons  of  Broulas. 
Gaza  produces  dates  like  Mecca,  and  pomegranates  like 
Algiers.  Tripoli  affords  oranges  like  Malta.  Beyrout,  figs 
like  Marseilles,  and  bananas  like  St.  Domingo.  Aleppo 
has  the  (not)  exclusive  advantage  of  producing  pistachios  ; 
and  Damascus  justly  boasts  of  possessing  all  the  fruits  known 
in  the  provinces  :  its  stony  soil  suits  equally  the  apples  of 
Normandy,  the  plums  of  Touraine,  and  the  peaches  of  Paris. 
Twenty  sorts  of  apricots  are  enumerated  there,  the  stone  of 
one  of  which  contains  a  kernel  highly  valued  throughout 
Turkey.  The  cochineal  plant,  which  grows  on  all  that 
coast,  contains,  perhaps,  that  precious  insect  in  as  high  per¬ 
fection  as  it  is  found  in  Mexico  and  St.  Domingo  ;  and  if 
we  consider  that  the  mountains  of  Yemen,  which  produce 
such  excellent  coffee,  are  only  a  continuation  of  those  of 
Syria,  and  that  their  soil  and  climate  are  almost  the  same, 
we  shall  be  induced  to  believe  that  in  Judea  particularly 
might  be  easily  cultivated  this  valuable  production  of  Arabia. 

“  With  these  advantages  of  climate  and  soil,  it  is  not  sur¬ 
prising  that  Syria  should  always  have  been  reckoned  a  most 
delicious  country,  and  that  the  Greeks  and  Romans  esteem¬ 
ed  it  among  the  most  beautiful  of  their  provinces,  and  equal 
even  t-o  Egypt.”* 

Such  is  the  description  of  the  climate  and  soil  of  Syria  by 
the  man  who  sought  to  adduce  a  conclusive  proof  against 
revelation  from  the  desolation  of  the  land  and  the  ruins  of 
its  cities  which  prophets  had  foretold  ;  and  such,  as  an  eye¬ 
witness,  is  the  refutation  which  he  gives  to  the  hlasphemies 
against  the  land  of  Israel,  uttered  by  those  who  in  other 
things  were  his  fellow-scoffers.  Elsewhere  he  writes  as 
if  in  purpose  to  prove  the  inspiration  which  he  denied  ; 
and  infidel  as  he  was,  he  here  refutes  the  calumnies  of  oth¬ 
ers,  as  if  his  design  had  been  to  bear  testimony  to  the  scrip¬ 
tural  record  descriptive  of  the  fertility  and  excellence  of  the 
land,  were  nature  again  seconded  by  art,  as  it  was  in  an¬ 
cient  times.  Where  is  there  another  country  in  which  such 
varied  excellences  are  naturally  combined,  or  of  which  such 
a  description  would  be  a  picture,  especially  even  in  a  land 
so  desolate  as  Syria  was  when  seen  by  Volney  ?  And  how 
appositely  does  his  delineation  of  its  capabilities  combine 

♦  Volney’s  Trav.,  vol.  i.,  p.  316-321,  English  translation. 


370 


CONCLUSION. 


with  the  scriptural  narrative  of  what  the  promised  heritage 
was  when  first  peopled  by  those  to  whom  the  Lord  gave  it, 
and  as  it  shall  become  when  given  to  them  again,  notin  tem¬ 
porary,  but  everlasting  possession :  a  good  land,  a  land  of 
brooks  of  water,  of  fountains  and  depths  that  spring  out  of  val¬ 
leys  and  hills ;  a  land  of  wheat  and  barley,  and  vines  and 
fig-trees,  and  pomegranates  and  olives ;  a  land  wherein  they 
would  eat  bread  without  scarceness,  and  lack  not  anything  in 
it ;  a  land  of  bread  and  vineyards  ;  a  land  of  olive -oil  and  of 
honey ;  a  land  which  the  Lord  espied  for  them,fiowing  with 
milk  and  honey,  which  is  the  glory  of  all  lands*  Yet  the 
past  is  but  an  earnest  of  the  future.  Behold,  the  days  come 
that  the  ploughman  shall  overtake  the  reaper,  and  the  treader 
of  grapes  him  that  soweth  seed ;  and  the  mountains  shall  drop 
sweet  wine,  and  all  the  hills  shall  melt.  And  I  will  bring 
again  the  captivity  of  my  people  of  Israel,  and  they  shall  build 
the  waste  cities,  and  inhabit  them  ;  and  they  shall  plant  vine¬ 
yards,  and  drink  the  wine  thereof ;  they  shall  also  make  gar¬ 
dens,  and  eat  the  fruit  thereof.  And  I  will  plant  them  upon 
their  land,  and  they  shall  no  more  be  pulled  up  out  of  the  land 
which  I  have  given  them,  saith  the  Lord  God.\  And  it  shall 
come  to  pass  in  that  day,  that  the  mountains  shall  drop  down 
new  wine,  the  little  hills  shall fiow  with  milk,  and  all  the  riv¬ 
ers  of  Judah  shall  flow  with  waters.  And  Judah  shall 
dwell  forever,  and  Jerusalem  from  generation  to  generation. 
For  I  will  cleanse  their  blood  that  I  have  not  cleansed ;  for 
the  Lord  dwelleth  in  Zion.X  The  Lord  shall  comfort  Zion ; 
He  will  comfort  all  her  waste  places,  .and  he  will  make  her 
wilderness  as  Eden,  and  her  desert  like  the  garden  of  the 
Lord ;  joy  and  gladness  shall  be  found  therein,  thanksgiv¬ 
ing,  and  the  voice  of  melody. §  Ye  shall  go  forth  with  joy, 
and  be  led  forth  with  peace ;  the  mountains  and  the  hills 
shall  break  forth  before  you  into  singing,  and  all  the  trees  of 
the  field  shall  clap  their  hands.  Instead  of  the  thorn  shall 
come  up  the  fir-tree,  and  instead  of  the  brier  shall  come  up 
the  myrtle-tree  ;  and  it  shall  be  to  the  Lord  for  a  name,  for 
an  everlasting  sign  that  shall  not  be  cut  off.'^  The  desolate 
land  shall  be  tilled,  whereas  it  lay  desolate  in  the  .sight  of  all 
that  passed  by.  And  they  shall  say,  this  land  which  was  des¬ 
olate  is  become  like  the  garden  of  Eden ;  and  the  waste,  and 
desolate,  and  ruined  cities  are  become  fenced  and  are  inhab- 

*  Deut.,  viii.,  7-9  ;  xi.,  11,  12.  Ezek.,  xx.,  6.  t  Amos,  ix.,  13-15. 

t  Joel,  iii.,  18,  20,  21.  ^  Isa.,  ii.,  3.  ||  Ibid.,  Iv.,  12,  13. 


CONCLUSION. 


371 


ited.  Then  the  heathen  that  are  round  about  you  shall 
know  that  I  the  Lord  build'  the  ruined  places,  and  plant  that 
that  was  desolate^  SfC*  And  it  shall  come  to  pass  in  that 
day,  I  will  hear,  saith  the  Lord,  I  will  hear  the  heavens,  and 
they  shall  hear  the  earth  ;  and  the  earth  shall  hear  the  corn, 
and  the  wine^  and  the  oil ;  and  they  shall  hear  Jezreel,\  And 
when  the  great  day  of  Jezreel  shall  be  past,  They  shall  sit 
every  one  under  his  vine  and  under  his  jig-tree^  and  hone  shall 
make  them  afraid;  for  the  mouth  of  the  Lord  hath  spoken 

The  abortive  attempt  to  rebuild  Askelon  was  akin  to  the 
attempt  to  restore  or  extend  the  cultivation  of  that  land.  In 
the  report  of  the  commercial  statistics  of  Syria  by  Dr.  Bow¬ 
ring,  it  is  stated,  that  in  the  preceding  year,  1837,  “  Ibrahim 
Pasha  forced  an  increased  cultivation  throughout  Syria,  and 
the  inhabitants  of  the  different  towns  were  obliged  to  take 
upon  themselves  the  agricultural  charge  of  every  spot  of  land 
susceptible  of  improvement.  He  himself  set  the  example, 
and  embarked  a  large  sum  in  such  enterprises.  The  officers 
of  the  army,  down  to  the  majors,  were  forced  also  to  adven¬ 
ture  in  similar  undertakings.  The  result  was,  however,  ex¬ 
tremely  unfortunate,  from  the  want  of  the  usual  periodical 
rains,  which  caused  the  failing  of  the  crops  generally  in 
Syria,  and  in  most  cases  a  total  loss  of  capital  ensued.  Mr. 
Wherry  says,  a  considerable  extension  of  the  plantation  of 
the  mulberry,  and  olive-tree,  and  vines  took  place  at  Tripoli, 
Latakia,  and  to  the  south,”^  &;c. 

As  long  as  the  Hebrews  are  in  the  land  of  their  enemies, 
so  long  the  land  lieth  desolate.  I  will  make  your  heaven  as 
iron  and  your  earth  as  brass,  and  your  strength  shall  be  spent 
in  vain,  and  your  land  shall  not  yield  her  increase,  ^c.  They 
have  sown  wheat,  but  shall  reap  thorns :  they  have  put  them¬ 
selves  to  pain,  but  shall  not  yrofit ;  and  they  shall  be  ashamed 
of  your  revenues  because  of  the  fierce  anger  of  the  Lord.\ 

“  The  agricultural  produce  of  Syria,”  as  the  same  report 
bears,  “  is  far  less  than  might  be  expected  from  the  exten¬ 
sive  tracts  of  fertile  lands,  and  the  favourable  character  of 
the  climate.  In  the  districts  where  hands  are  found  to  cul¬ 
tivate  the  fields,  production  is  large,  and  the  return  for  cap¬ 
ital  is  considerable ;  but  the  want  of  population  for  the  pur¬ 
poses  of  cultivation  is  most  deplorable.  Regions  of  the  higk^ 

*  Ezek.,  xxxvi.,  34.  t  Hosea,  xi.,  21,  22.  i  Micah,  iv-,  4. 

^  Report  on  Syria,  p.  9,  10  II  Lev.,  xxvi.,  19,  20.  Jer.,  xii.,  13, 


372 


CONCLUSION. 


est  fertility  remain  fallow,  and  the  traveller  passes  over  con¬ 
tinuous  leagues  of  the  richest  soil  which  is  wholly  unproduc¬ 
tive  to  man.  Nay,  towns  surrounded  by  lands  capable  of  the 
most  successful  cultivation  are  often  compelled  to  import 
corn  for  the  daily  consumption,  as  is  the  case  at  Antioch,  in 
whose  immediate  neio-hbourhood  the  fine  lands  on  the  bor- 

O 

ders  of  the  Orontes  might  furnish  food  for  hundreds  of  thou¬ 
sands  of  inhabitants.”*  /  ivill  bring  your  land  into  desola¬ 
tion  ;  and  your  enemies  which  dwell  therein  shall  -be  astonish¬ 
ed  at  it.  Then  shall  the  land  enjoy  her  sabbaths,  as  long  as 
it  lieth  desolate,  and  ye  be  in  your  enemies’  land ;  even  then 
shall  the  land  rest  and  enjoy  her  sabbaths.  As  long  as  it  li¬ 
eth  desolate  it  shall  rest ;  because  it  did  not  rest  in  your  sab¬ 
baths  while  ye  dwelt  upon  it.  The  land  shall  be  left  of  them, 
and  shall  enjoy  her  sabbaths  while  she  lieth  desolate  without 
them.j 

The  astonishment  is,  not  that  a  land  now  desolate  should 
once  have  teemed  with  population  and  produce,  but  that,  rich 
as  it  is,  and  able  as  ever  to  sustain  many  myriads  through¬ 
out  all  its  borders,  regions  of  the  highest  fertility  should  re¬ 
main  fallow ;  that  continuous  leagues  of  the  richest  soil 
should  be  wholly  unproductive  to  man ;  that  corn  should  be 
imported  for  ih.Q  feiu  men  that  are  left,  while  surrounded  by 
the  richest  land  capable  of  furnishing  food  for  hundreds  of 
thousands  of  inhabitants.  Well  may  a  stranger  from  a  far 
land,  and  the  enemies  that  dwell  within  it,  be  astonished  at 
it ;  even  at  the  desolation  of  so  fertile  a  country  in  so  fine  a 
clime.  But  in  vain  do  they  try  to  redeem  it  from  the  curse, 
or  to  rebuild  the  desolate  cities,  or  to  renew  the  face  of  the 
land,  till  the  time  come  when  it  shall  smile  again  on  the  re¬ 
turn  of  its  children. 

For  this,  the  briers,  and  thorns,  and  thistles,  from  which 
nothing  could  be  carried  away,  and  which,  even  when  burn¬ 
ed,  yield  ashes  to  fertilize  the  soil,  have  come  upon  the  land  ; 
for  this,  the  terraces  have  sustained  the  soil,  and  the  rains 
that  have  fallen  from  year  to  year,  and  that  made  the  thorny 
plants  or  wild  herbage  to  shoot  forth  anew,  instead  of  wash¬ 
ing  the  soil  away,  were  filtered  as  they  passed  down  the 
sides  of  the  terraced  hills,  and  every  particle  of  soil  retain¬ 
ed,  that  the  mountains  of  Israel  might  finally  shoot  forth 
their  branches,  and  rejoice  on  every  side.  For  this  end  the 
land  has  enjoyed  its  sabbaths  ;  not  tilled  by  aliens,  as  it  was 

*  Report  on  Syria,  p.  9.  t  Lev,,  xxvi.,  32,  34,  35,  43. 


CONCLUSION. 


373 


by  Israelites  of  old,  but  resting  still,  as  if  awaiting  their  re¬ 
turn  :  and  though  they  suffered  not  the  land  to  keep  its  sab¬ 
baths,  nor  themselves  kept  the  Sabbath  of  the  Lord,  yet  has 
the  land  enjoyed  her  sabbaths,  or  “  remains  fallow”  after  many 
generations,  that  when  God  shall  make  fat  the  bones  of  Ja¬ 
cob,  the  glory  of  whose  flesh  he  has  made  lean,  and  the  land 
be  like  a  watered  garden,  the  promise  shall  be  fulfilled  to 
a  covenant-keeping  people,  whom  the  Lord  will  guide  con¬ 
tinually  :  If  thou  turn  away  thy  foot  from  the  Sabbath,  from 
doing  thy  pleasure  on  my  holy  day ,  and  call  the  Sabbath  a 
delight,  the  Holy  of  the  Lord  honourable  ;  and  shalt  honour 
him,  not  doing  thine  own  ways,  nor  finding  thine  own  pleas¬ 
ure,  nor  speaking  thine  own  words,  then  shalt  thou  delight 
thyself  in  the  Lord,  and  I  will  cause  thee  to  ride  upon  the 
high  places  of  the  earth,  and  feed  thee  with  the  heritage  of 
Israel  thy  father ;  for  the  mouth  of  the  Lord  hath  spoken  it.* 
For  the  restoration  of  Israel  other  means  may  be  prepa¬ 
ring.  All  eyes  of  late  years  have  been  turned  to  Syria,  and 
commercial  statistics  are  not  unassociated  with  political 
speculations.  “  Since  the  twenty-five  years’  war  between 
Britain  and  France,  commerce  to  these  countries  has  not 
only  assumed  a  new  phase,  but  has  acquired  fresh  vigour, 
and  the  political  and  commercial  relations  of  these  countries 
seem  equally  alienated  from  the  sultan’s  power,  government, 
and  authority.  New  channels,  furnishing  immense  supplies 
of  merchandise,  have  been  opened  :  Trebizond  and  Erzerouin 
supply  the  southern  Persian  provinces,  and,  in  part,  north¬ 
ern  Mesopotamia  ;  the  Persian  Gulf  supplies  the  southern 
Persian  provinces,  and,  in  part,  Babylonia ;  while  Syria,  by 
way  of  Damascus,  supplies  Babylonia  for  the  same  object, 
and  Aleppo  northern  Mesopotamia  and  Babylonia,  thereby 
completing  the  two  former  lines.  Such  are  the  channels 
through  which  British  capital  flows,  diffusing  commerce  and 
affluence  by  the  introduction  of  our  manufactures  and  the  ex¬ 
tension  of  trade  generally,  and  for  whose  promotion,  in  which 
the  great  political  magnitude  of  our  East  India  colonies 
form  so  important  a  connecting  link,  the  sway  of  great  Brit¬ 
ain  seems  called  on  to  maintain  the  chief  direction  of  the 
destinies  of  Eastern  politics,  to  form,  it  may  be  hoped,  a 
counterpoise  to  the  gigantic  schemes  of  Russia ;  but  for  the 
furtherance  of  such  great  national  objects,  Syria,  both  polit¬ 
ically  and  geographically  considered,  should  be  made  the 

Isaiah,  Iviii.,  11-14. 

I  I 


I 


374 


CONCLUSION, 


'point  d'appui;  its  geographical  position  at  this  end  of  the 
Mediterranean,  of  such  easy  access  from  Great  Britain, 
would  seem  to  demand  the  chief  attention  of  the  British  cab¬ 
inet,  to  blend  with  its  advantageous  position  every  internal 
facility  and  communication  by  which  the  commerce  of  Syria 
can  be  made  to  increase,  and  politically  to  place  it  under  a 
good  and  permanent  government.”* 

Such  is  the  close  of  a  communication  imbodying  the  opin¬ 
ions  of  “  a  gentleman  long  resident  in  Syria,  and  intimately 
acquainted  with  Oriental  politics,”  w|;iich.  Dr.  Bowring  states, 
are  undoubtedly  entitled  to  greater  weight  than  any  obser¬ 
vations  of  his  own,  and  he  has  therefore  given  them  a  prom¬ 
inent  place  in  his  report. 

In  it  he  states  that,  “  notwithstanding  all  Impediments  and 
difficulties,  wherever  repose  and  peace  have  allowed  the  ca¬ 
pabilities  of  Syria  to  develop  themselves,  production  and 
commerce  have  taken  rapid  strides.  Both  for  agriculture 
and  manufactures  Syria  has  great  capabilities.  Were  fiscal 
exactions  checked  and  regulated ;  could  labour  pursue  its 
peaceful  vocations  ;  were  the  aptitudes  which  the  country 
and  its  inhabitants  present  for  the  development  of  industry 
called  into  play,  the  whole  face  of  the  land  would  soon  be 
changed.  The  presence  and  influence  of  European,  and  es¬ 
pecially  of  British  merchants,  cannot  but  produce  habits  of 
greater  punctuality  and  probity.  They  will  also  call  forth 
the  undeveloped  and  productive  energies  of  the  country, 
whenever  peace  and  security  shall  succeed  to  frequent  wars 
and  long-during  armed  truces,  which  have  brought  with 
them  perpetual  disquiet  and  uncertainty,  the  frequent  inter¬ 
ruptions  of  trade  and  communication,  of  manufacturing  and 
agricultural  industry,  the  consequence  of  the  constant  drain¬ 
ings  of  the  people,  and  the  exhaustion  of  the  wealth  of  the 
land.  The  conquests  of  Ibrahim  promised  tranquillity  and 
improvement,  but  the  insurrections  and  disturbances  of  the 
last  two  years  have  again  checked  the  progress  of  prosperity.” 

Since  that  time  Syria  has  again  changed  its  master.  But 
a  few  years  ago  Ibrahim  was  looked  on  as  a  deliverer  :  but 
he  ruled  Syria  with  an  iron  rod,  and  carried  on  an  exter¬ 
minating  war  in  the  Haouran.  Revolt  followed  on  revolt, 
till  the  oppressed  and  miserable  inhabitants  were  disarmed  : 
when,  by  European  interference,  they  were  armed  anew, 
and  from  the  banks  of  the  Euphrates  to  the  borders  of 

*  Report  ou  Syria,  p.  49. 


i 


CONCLUSION. 


375 


Egypt  the  Egyptian  army  was  removed  far  away,  Syria 
was  delivered  over  to  the  Turks,  who  were  before  unable 
to  retain  it,  anarchy  worse  than  despotism  ensued,  and  not 
less,  but  rather  more  than  ever,  a  land  which  has  found  no 
rest  for  ages,  cries  out,  in  all  but  utter  hopelessness  at  last, 
for  a  good  and  permanent  government,  under  which,  on  po¬ 
litical  and  commercial  views,  and  in  the  progress  of  events, 
now  of  an  unprecedented  nature,  it  is  said  to  be  the  duty 
and  the  wisdom  of  the  British  cabinet  to  place  it. 

Worldly  politicians  feel  the  necessity  of  an  altered  course 
of  things  in  Syria  ;  and  four  great  'powers  of  Europe,  after 
France  had  broken  off  from  the  alliance,  took  in  hand  the 
settlement  of  its  affairs,  and  transferred  it  from  the  firm 
hands  of  the  Pasha  of  Egypt  to  the  feeble  hands  of  the  sul¬ 
tan.  Other  powers  than  Britain  are  now  concerned  in  the 
settlement  of  Syria,  indispensable,  as  it  now  seems,  to  the 
peace  of  the  world.  A  country  which  for  previous  centu¬ 
ries  no  man  inquired  after,  excites  anew  the  liveliest  inter¬ 
est  among  the  greatest  of  earthly  potentates.  After  a 
twenty-five  years’  war  between  England  and  France,  the 
sovereigns  of  both  these  kingdoms,  when  sixteen  more  had 
elapsed,  simultaneously  congratulated  the  Parliament  of  the 
one  and  the  Chambers  of  the  other,  in  similar  terms,  on  the 
prospect  of  continued  peace,  because,  as  they  imagined,  the 
Eastern  question  had  been  settled.  On  the  27th  December, 
1841,  the  speech  of  the  King  of  France  thus  began  :  “  Since 
the  close  of  your  last  session,  the  questions  which  excited 
in  the  East  our  just  solicitude,  have  reached  their  term.  I 
have  concluded  with  the  Emperor  of  Austria,  the  Queen  of 
Great  Britain,  the  King  of  Prussia,  and  the  sultan,  a  con¬ 
nexion  which  consecrates  the  common  intention  of  the  pow¬ 
ers  to  maintain  the  peace  of  Europe,  and  consolidate  the 
repose  of  the  Ottoman  Empire.” 

But  the  question  of  the  settlement,  or  appropriation  of 
Syria,  has  not  reached  its  term,  and  the  repose  of  the  Otto¬ 
man  Empire,  then  essentially  associated  with  the  peace  of 
Europe,  is  not  yet  consolidated.  The  breaking  up  of  that 
empire  is  the  scriptural  prognostic  of  another  confederacy 
and  of  a  universal  war,  and  hence  the  peace  of  Europe  or 
of  the  world  seems  dependant  on  its  repose.  Its  fall — or 
the  drying  up  of  the  Euphrates,  not  unequivocally  illustrated 
by  “the  constant  drainings  of  the  people” — prepares  the 
way  of  the  kings  of  the  East.  The  great  powers,  ruled  and 


376 


OONCLUSION. 


controlled  by  a  power  greater  than  they,  and  higher  than 
the  highest,  may,  when  the  counsels  of  the  Eternal  shall  be 
evolved  by  their  acts,  in  accordance  with  his  Word,  have 
another  work  to  do  than  that  of  either  keeping  Mohammed 
Ali  in  his  place,  or  the  sultan  on  his  throne.  And  as  other 
things  seem  ready  for  the  national  restoration  of  the  Jews, 
who  can  say  that  history  may  not  in  a  little  time,  in  the 
discharge  of  the  task  assigned  it,  supply  an  illustration  of 
the  Word  of  the  Lord,  and  show  how  a  nation,  when  brought 
to  the  birth,  may  he  horn  in  a  day.  Greece  was  given  to 
the  Greeks  ;  and  in  seeking  any  government  for  Syria,  may 
not  a  confederacy  of  kings,  for  the  sake  of  the  peace  of  the 
world,  be  shut  up  to  the  course  of  giving — if  they  think  it 
theirs  to  give — Judea  to  the  Jews  ?  Connexions  may  be 
concluded  between  earthly  sovereigns,  and  the  end  may  be, 
as  it  has  often  been,  to  show  that  they  are  but  of  little 
worth.  And  resolve  the  question  as  for  the  time  they  may, 
yet,  so  soon  as  the  Ruler  of  the  nations  suffers  or  sets  them 
to  intermeddle  with  the  Syrian  question,  that  shall  not  reach 
its  term,  or  the  issue  assigned  it  from  the  beginning  by  the 
Lord,  till  a  covenant  different  from  all  earthly  connexions, 
even  that  which  the  Lord  made  with  Abraham,  and  Isaac, 
and  Jacob,  to  give  that  land  to  their  seed  for  an  everlasting 
possession,  shall  be  realized.  After  the  desolating  qui¬ 
escence  of  ages,  revolution  has  succeeded  to  revolution  in 
the  land,  still  ripening  for  more,  as  if  its  present  history 
were  read  in  the  words  of  the  prophet,  applicable  to  the 
last  days  of  its  trouble,  before  the  time  of  its  peace,  Over¬ 
turn,  overturn,  overturn,  till  He  come  whose  it  is,  and  I  will 
give  it  him.  While  the  sovereigns  of  this  world  speak  of 
connexions  concluded  and  peace  consolidated,  the  councils 
of  the  Eternal  interpose,  and  the  King  of  Kings  says.  Over¬ 
turn,  overturn.  When  the  question  shall  reach  its  final  term, 
whenever  that  shall  be,  the  land,  in  blessedness  and  peace, 
shall  be  the  people’s  to  whom  the  Lord  hath  given  it ;  and 
all  kings  on  earth  shall  see  the  glory  of  the  Lord. 

The  result  of  the  designs  and  doings  of  earthly  govern¬ 
ments  is  not  unfrequently  the  reverse  of  what  they  devise. 
The  Lord,  to  whom  power  belongs,  and  with  whom  wisdom 
dwells,  turns  wise  men  backward.  Shortsighted  is  the  wis¬ 
dom  that  knows  not  what  a  day  may  bring  forth,  and  weak 
the  power  that  cannot  prepare  for  it.  Kings,  in  other  mat¬ 
ters,  are  accomplishing  now  what  the  Lord  may  use  as 


t 


CONCLUSION. 


377 


means  for  the  subversion  of  their  kingdoms,  as  of  this  world 
they  yet  are,  and  turn  into  instruments  for  the  completion  of 
his  promises  to  Israel,  and  for  the  better  government  of  all 
the  nations  of  the  earth,  when  the  law  shall  go  forth  to  them 
all  out  of  Zion,  and  the  word  of  the  Lord  from  Jerusalem* 
Great  kings  of  old  were  hewers  of  stone  for  cities  of  Israel 
yet  to  be  rebuilt.  And  at  last  the  highways  have  to  be  cast 
up,  that  the  way  of  the  Lord’s  people  may  he  prepared.  Af¬ 
ter  the  kingdoms  that  were  to  arise  on  the  earth  had  been 
symbolized,  in  other  visions,  before  the  eyes  of  Daniel,  even 
as  they  have  actually  passed  in  history  before  our  own,  the 
things  noted  in  the  Scripture  of  Truth  were  finally  revealed, 
as  rendered  in  the  prophecy  which  concludes  his  book  ; 
and  on  declaring  them,  the  angel  said,  I  am  come  to  make 
thee  understand  what  shall  befall  thy  people  in  the  latter 
days  ;  for  yet  the  vision  is  for  many  daysj  And  after  the 
things  were  written,  Daniel  was  commanded  to  “  shut  up 
and  seal  the  hook,  even  to  the  time  of  the  end.  And  the  sign 
of  that  time  was  given,  many  shall  run  to  and  fro,  and  knoiol- 
edge  shall  he  increased.”  In  all  past  ages,  men  would  have 
looked  in  vain  for  any  such  sign  of  the  time  of  the  end\  as  that 
which  now,  vividly,  day  by  day,  brightens  more  and  more 
in  the  sight  of  the  existing  generation.  And  the  time,  if 
not  come,  may,  as  thus  assigned,  be  at  hand,  in  which  the 
Scripture  of  Truth,  revealing  the  things  that  should  befall  the 
Jews  in  the  latter  days,  may  at  last  be  an  open  book,  when 
there  is  this  warrant  from  the  Lord  for  breaking  the  seal. 

But  if  such  a  time  be  come,  the  kings  or  governments  of 
the  earth,  while  entering  into  conventions  for  maintaining 
the  integrity  of  the  Ottoman  Empire — against  which  the 
word  of  the  Lord  has  gone  forth,  and  on  which  that  word 
must  fall  whenever  his  work  with  it  is  done — may  not  be 
idle  in  casting  up  the  highway,  and  preparing  the  way  for  the 
return  of  the  Jews'5>  in  the  predicted  manner  :  they  shall 
come  with  speed  swiftly,  and  fly  as  a  cloud,  and  as  the  doves 
to  their  windows  ;11  and  also  for  the  better  things  that  shall 
follow,  when  that  empire  shall  be  overthrown,  and  the  last 
of  battles  shall  have  been  fought,  and  men  shall  go  front 
year  to  year  out  of  all  the  nations  of  the  earth  to  Jerusalem 
to  worship  before  the  Lord,  the  Lord  of  Hosts, and  war  shall 
cease  forever  throughout  all  the  ends  of  the  earth.  Much, 

*  Isaiah,  xi.,  3,  t  Dan.,  x.,  14.  t  Ibid.,  xii.,  4. 

Isa.,  xii.,  10.  II  Ibid.,  lx.,  8.  ^  Zeth.,  xiv.,  16,  17. 

I  I  2  ' 


378 


CONCLUSION. 


far  more  than  ever,  as  men  already  run  to  and  fro,  yet  new 
facilities  are  opening  up,  so  that  in  the  course  of  a  very  few 
years  Europe  may  be  passed  through,  from  Hamburgh  to 
Trieste,  in  two  days,  or  the  North  Sea  be  linked  by  a  rail¬ 
way  to  the  Adriatic,  and  France  may  be  traversed  in  a  day 
from  the  British  Channel  to  the  Mediterranean. 

A  sudden  change  of  the  atmosphere  causes  the  doves, 
spread  far  and  wide  all  around,  prompted  by  instinct,  to  fly 
to  their  windows.  With  equal  ease,  and  even  so  by  a 
change  in  the  spirit  of  the  times,  can  the  Lord  Almighty, 
who  has  given  that  instinct  to  these,  bring  back  the  children 
of  Israel — the  tribe  of  Judah  first — from  every  country  under 
heaven,  and  cause  them  to  come  with  speed  swiftly  (or  very 
swiftly),  in  a  manner  they  never  could  have  done  till  now, 
to  the  land  which  He  promised  to  their  father,  and  to  their 
seed  forever. 

But  around  the  land  itself,  as  within  its  borders,  there  are 
other  indications  that  the  time  draweth  nigh,  of  a  different 
character,  though  not  less  defined. 

The  land  is  in  a  great  measure  naked  of  inhabitants,  and 
there  are  few  men  left,  and  those  few  have  but  a  slight  hold 
on  the  land  that  is  not  theirs.  The  inhabitants,  instead  of 
being,  like  the  peasants  anciently  iri  many,  and  still  in  some, 
countries  of  Europe,  adstricti  glebce,  or  bound  to  the  soil,  are 
wanderers  without  settled  habitation  ;  and  instead  of  abiding 
in  houses,  as  is  general  throughout  all  cultivable  regions  of 
the  world,  with  comparatively  few  exceptions,  they  dwell  in 
tents,  which  are  removed  from  place  to  place,  as  their  des¬ 
tined  work  of  treading  down  the  land,  and  fertilizing  the  soil 
by  pasturing  it,  is  fulhlled.  Their  tents  are  struck  whenever 
,  the  green  pasture  is  eaten  up  by  their  flocks,  and  are  only 
temporarily  set  up  again,  to  be  removed  anew  in  their  cease¬ 
less  wanderings.  Few  of  the  Bedouin  or  wandering  Arabs, 
as  Burckhardt  has  remarked,  die  in  the  place  in  which  they 
were  born.  They  still  wander  in  the  wilderness,  till  the  pe¬ 
riod  arrive  when  they  shall  “  dwell  in  the  presence  of  their 
brethren.”  The  traveller  occasionally  witnesses  the  break¬ 
ing  up  of  an  Arab  camp,  when  hundreds,  and  sometimes 
thousands,  remove  from  one  locality  to  another,  with  all  their 
flocks,  in  order  to  consume  successively  the  herbage  in  the 
place  where  it  grows,  like  flocks  of  sheep  penned  succes¬ 
sively,  for  enriching  the  soil,  in  all  the  different  portions  of 
a  field.  But  as  the  rams  of  Ncbaioth  and  the  flocks  of  Kedar 


CONCLUSION. 


379 


shall  yet  minister  to  Israel,  so  the  multitude  of  camels  shall 
cover  the  land,  the  dromedaries  of  Midian  and  Ephahf  when 
the  people  shall  flow  together,  and  fly  as  a  cloud,  and  as  the 
doves  to  their  windows. 

The  chief  beasts  of  burden  throughout  the  land  are  camels 
or  dromedaries,  which,  in  many  places,  from  one  extremity 
of  it  to  the  other,  are  very  numerous.  So  soon  as  Pales¬ 
tine  is  entered  on  the  south,  they  are  sometimes  seen  in 
large  numbers,  spread  over  the  plains ;  and  as  the  sun  de¬ 
clines,  they  are  gathered,  together  with  the  cattle,  around 
the  tents  of  the  Arabs,  or  the  cottages  for  shepherds  in  the 
land  of  Philistia,t  so  that  in  a  wide-extended  view,  the  face 
of  the  country  is  simultaneously  lighted  up  with  fires  on  ev¬ 
ery  side,  to  protect  them  from  the  wild  beasts,  to  which, 
rather  than  unto  men,  the  land  is  now  given.  On  the  north 
of  Syria  Arabs  now  wander  with  their  camels  and  flocks, 
w'here  a  successor  of  Alexander  the  Great  fed,  in  a  single 
narrow  region,  thousands  of  elephants.  Of  such  facts  the 
writer  had  noted  several  illustrations  ;  but  the  most  recent 
is  the  most  striking,  communicated  to  him  in  a  letter  from 
his  esteemed  friend,  Dr.  Wilson,  of  Bombay.  “  On  ap¬ 
proaching  Damascus  from  the  Jizr  Banat  Jacub  (Jacob’s 
Bridge),  we  passed  uninjured,  though  not  without  some  ap¬ 
prehension,  through  the  camp  of  the  Anazi  of  the  great  Ba- 
riah,  extending  for  twenty  miles,  and  containing,  according 
to  the  smallest  computation,  no  fewer  than  35,000  camels. 
At  Damascus  we  witnessed  the  arrival  of  the  Bagdad  cara¬ 
van  of  4000  camels,  loaded  with  spices  and  precious  wares. 
Both  circumstances  brought  vividly  to  our  remembrance  the 
promise  :  ‘  The  multitude  of  camels  shall  cover  thee  ;  the 
dromedaries  of  Midian  and  Ephah :  all  they  from  Shebah 
shall  come  ;  they  shall  bring  gold  and  incense ;  and  they 

*  A  singular  fact  in  natural  history,  not  unconnected  with  the  fertility  of  the  land, 
is  worthy  of  notice.  In  passing  through  the  desert  from  Egypt,  the  author  was  sur¬ 
prised  to  see  the  green  verdure,  in  many  instances,  of  tall  grassy  bushes,  to  which 
the  bending  of  the  camel’s  head  not  unfrequently  directed  his  attention ;  and  where 
no  water  is  near,  he  for  some  time  tried  in  vain  to  satisfy  himself  as  to  the  cause  of 
the  verdure.  Little  holes  were  seen  around  the  bushes,  but  their  cause  or  purpose 
was  alike  unknown.  At  Kan  Younes  the  seeming  mysteiy  was  solved.  Multitudes 
of  beetles  (the  scarabeus  of  the  Egyptians)  were  seen  rolling  the  round  pieces  of  cam¬ 
el’s  dung,  and  other  deposites,  speedily  formed  by  them  into  a  similar  shape  and  size, 
to  suitable  spots  where  the  soil  was  bare,  or  around  the  roots  of  bushes  ;  there  they 
formed  their  holes,  with  the  mathematical  accuracy  of  instinct,  into  which  the  balls, 
by  a  slight  motion,  were  rolled  down— these  forming  beds  of  incubation  for  the  “  sharn- 
bred  beetle.”  7’hese  little  animals,  which  abound  in  myriads,  at  once  preserve  the 
pureness  of  the  air,  and,  increasing  the  fertility  of  the  soil,  are  often  the  only,  but 
busy,  cultivators  where  man  is  idle  :  and  the  wonder  is  diminished  that  the  scarabeus 
was  in  ancient  times  worshipped  by  the  Egyptians.  t  Isa.,  lx.,  6 


380 


CONCT.UaiOlNi. 


shall  show  forth  the  praise  of  the  Lord.’  ”  Such  facts  may 
be  numbered  among  the  tokens  that  the  time  approaches. 
And  when  it  shall  be  come,  nothing  shall  be  wanting  for  the 
completion  of  the  promises  :  but  the  ships  of  Tar  slush  first, 
shall  be  as  ready  as  the  camels  of  the  desert. 

The  God  of  Israel  is  the  Lord  of  Hosts.  He  ruleth  ever 
by  his  power;  his  eyes  behold  the  nations.  Nebuchadnez¬ 
zar,  who  said  in  the  pride  of  his  heart,  while  the  Jews  were 
captives  in  Babylon,  “  Is  not  this  great  Babylon  that  I  have 
built  for  the  house  of  the  kingdom,  by  the  might  of  my  pow¬ 
er,  and  for  the  honour  of  my  majesty  ?”  was  constrained  to 
take  up  another  language,  and  to  “  bless  the  Most  High, 
and  to  praise  and  honour  him  that  liveth  forever  and  ever, 
whose  dominion  is  an  everlasting  dominion,  and  his  king¬ 
dom  from  generation  to  generation.”*  The  kings  of  the 
earth  are  but  the  executioners  of  his  purposes,  the  instru¬ 
ments  of  his  power.  He  is  head  of  them,  and  of  all  their 
hosts,  though  they  know  it  not.  And  the  result  of  all  they 
do,  though  their  own  design  be  frustrated,  is  inevitably  that 
which  the  Lord  has  determined.  According  to  His  word, 
the  land  of  Israel  has  bereaved  the  nations  of  men  ;  the 
worst  of  the  heathen  have  possessed  it ;  and  it  has  been  de- 
voured  by  strangers,  till  the  v/ork  assigned  them  has  been 
completed ;  and,  it  may  be,  other  work  has  now  to  be  done 
by  other  hands.  For  promoting  or  securing  the  peace  of 
Europe,  according  to  their  design,  the  sovereigns  of  Britain, 
Austria,  Prussia,  and  Russia  entered  into  a  convention  for 
expelling  the  Pasha  of  Egypt  from  Syria  ;  and  who  can  say 
that  this  new  interference  with  its  destinies  may  not  be  the 
beginning  of  a  greater  work,  in  which  kings  shall  be  the 
carpenters  for  the  reconstruction  of  the  Jewish  state.  The 
world  has  seen  what  the  Lord  has  done  to  the  city  called 
by  his  name,  and  to  the  people  whom  He  did  choose  out  of 
all  the  nations  of  the  earth  ;  and  the  world  has  yet  to  see 
what  the  Lord  will  do  for  Israel.  Future  history  may  be 
read  in  the  Scriptures,  like  the  past  which  was  future  when 
they  were  written.  “  Cry  yet,  saying.  Thus  saith  the  Lord 
of  Hosts,  My  cities  through  prosperity  shall  yet  be  spread 
abroad,  and  the  Lord  shall  yet  comfort  Zion,  and  shall  yet 
choose  Jerusalem.  Then  lifted  I  up  mine  eyes,  and  saw, 
and  behold  four  horns.  And  I  said  unto  the  angel  that  talk¬ 
ed  with  me,  What  be  these  ?  And  he  answered  me,  These 

*  i)an.,  iv.,  34, 


CONCLUSION. 


381 


are  the  horns  which  have  scattered  Judah,  Israel,  and  Je¬ 
rusalem.  And  the  Lord  showed  me  four  carpenters.  Then 
said  1,  What  came  these  to  do  ?  And  He  spake,  saying, 
These  are  the  horns  which  have  scattered  Judah,  so  that 
no  man  could  lift  up  his  head  ;  but  these  are  come  to  fray 
them,  to  cast  out  the  horns  of  the  Gentiles,  which  lifted  up 
their  horn  over  the  land  of  Judah  to  scatter  it.”* 

The  time  has  been  long  during  which  no  man  of  Judah 
could  lift  up  his  head  ;  but,  now  that  the  period  is  come  when 
the  cities  are  desolate  without  inhabitant,  and  the  land  re¬ 
duced  to  a  tenth,  so  there  are  men  of  Judah  who  do  lift  up 
their  heads,  and  rank  among  the  chief  men  of  the  earth 
from  among  whom  the  Lord  will  take  his  people.  It  would 
thus  seem  as  if  the  time  of  the  horns  that  scattered  and  op¬ 
pressed  them  were  passing  away,  and  that  of  the  carpenters, 
to  whom  the  work  of  re-erection  is  assigned,  were  at  hand. 

In  answer  to  the  question.  Watchman^  what  of  the  night  ? 
Watchman,  what  of  the  night  1  The  watchman  said,  the 
morning  cometh,  and  also  the  night :  if  ye  will  inquire,  inquire 
ye :  return,  come.  Repeated  inquiry,  here  permitted,  may 
be  needed  ;  but  it  will  not  always  be  in  vain. 

Of  the  order  of  unfulfilled  predictions,  as  marked  in  Scrip¬ 
ture,  the  author  has  already  ventured  to  write  ;  and  it  was 
his  design  to  have  here  entered  on  the  inquiry  concerning 
the  time  of  Israel’s  restoration,  and  on  other  kindred  themes, 
touching  the  completion  of  the  covenant  with  Abraham  con¬ 
cerning  the  land,  and  the  covenant  with  David  concerning  his 
throne,  and  the  glorious  things  that  are  written  and  ought  to 
be  believed  concerning  Jerusalem.  These,  however,  would 
require  another  volume,  for  which,  if  the  Lord  will,  they  are 
reserved.  In  the  preceding  pages  he  has,  perhaps  not  un¬ 
timely,  touched  upon  a  subject  that  is  but  the  introduction  to 
other  themes,  to  which  speedily,  it  is  his  firm  belief,  the  at¬ 
tention  of  the  world  will  not  need  to  be  directed,  but  be  ne¬ 
cessarily  drawn,  consequent  as  they  are,  in  their  scriptural 
connexion  and  order,  on  facts  already  abundantly  adduced,^ 
and  coeval  as  they  shall  be  with  Israel’s  restoration.  As 
the  blindness  of  Israel  as  a  people  was  to  continue  until  the 
cities  should  be  desolate  without  inhabitant  and  the  houses 
without  man,  &c.,  so  the  same  Lord,  who  announced  the 
fact  when  He  appeared  to  Isaiah  in  his  glory,  while  he  was 
manifest  in  the  flesh,  wept  over  Jerusalem  and  foretold  its 

*  Zech.,  i.,  17-21.  I  Signs  of  the  Times,  last  chapter. 


382 


CONCLUSION. 


destruction,  gave  another  measure  of  the  time  during  which 
it  should  be  trodden  of  the  Gentiles,  even  until  the  times  of 
the  Gentiles  should  be  fulfilled,  and  judgments  come  without 
exception  on  all  the  nations  of  the  earth.  The  fulfilling  of 
the  times  of  the  Gentiles,  of  which  the  prophets  of  old  had 
not  kept  silence,  affects  all  nations,  and  is  thus  clearly  syn- 
chronical  with  the  time  when  Jerusalem  and  the  land  of 
Israel  shall  cease  to  be  trodden  down  by  them. 

Hitherto,  during  many  ages,  the  nations  of  the  earth,  save 
those  on  whom  by  name  judgments  have  fallen,  have  been, 
as  it  were,  spectators  of  what  the  Lord  has  done  to  Israel 
and  to  the  land ;  and  they  have  been  willing  and  active 
agents,  too,  in  the  execution  of  the  punishments  that  have 
come  upon  the  Jews,  and  in  the  spoliation  and  desolation 
to  which  the  land  has  been  subjected.  But  they  shall  not 
always  be  spectators  merely  of  what  the  Lord  hath  deter¬ 
mined  to  do.  Jeremiah,  to  whom  it  was  given  to  speak  so 
clearly  of  the  new  and  everlasting  covenant  of  the  Lord 
with  the  house  of  Israel  and  with  the  house  of  Judah,  was 
commissioned  and  commanded  to  take  the  winecup  of  the 
fury  of  the  Lord,  first  given  to  Jerusalem,  and  cause  all  the 
nations  to  drink  it  unto  whom  the  Lord  had  sent  it.  Nor 
was  it  given  so  that  they  should  certainly  be  caused  to 
drink  of  it,  as  certainly  they  have,  only  to  the  nations  enu¬ 
merated  one  by  one  in  the  same  judgment-roll,  but  also 
finally  to  all  the  kingdoms  of  the  world  that  are  upon  the 
face  of  the  earth.  “  Therefore  shalt  thou  say  unto  them. 
Thus  saith  the  Lord  of  Hosts,  the  God  of  Israel,  Drink  ye, 
and  be  drunken,  and  spew,  and  fall  and  rise  no  more,  be¬ 
cause  of  the  sword  which  I  will  send  among  you.  And  it 
shall  be,  if  they  refuse  to  take  the  cup  at  thine  hand  to 
drink,  then  shalt  thou  say  unto  them,  thus  saith  the  Lord, 
Ye  shall  certainly  drink;  for,  lo,  I  begin  to  bring  evil  u'pon 
the  city,  which  is  called  by  my  name,  and  should  ye  be  utterly 
unpunished?  Ye  shall  not  be  unpunished;  for  I  will  call 
for  a  sword  upon  all  the  inhabitants  of  the  earth,  saith  the 
Lord  of  Hosts.  A  noise  shall  come  even  to  the  ends  of  the 
earth ;  for  the  Lord  hath  a  controversy  with  the  nations ;  He 
will  plead  with  all  flesh;  He  will  give  them  that  are  wicked 
to  the  sword,  saith  the  Lord,”*  &c. 

We  have  seen  somewhat  of  the  curses  of  a  legal  cove¬ 
nant,  which  are  set  forth  practically  in  the  sight  of  all  think- 

*  Jer.,  XXV.,  27-31. 


CONCLUSION. 


383 


ing  as  well  as  all  believing  men  ;  we  have  seen  somewhat 
of  the  judgments  which  the  Lord  has  brought  on  his  own 
chosen  people,  and  on  the  city  called  by  his  name,  and  on 
the  people  of  old  denominated  his  own ;  and  the  question 
put  by  the  Lord  to  the  people  of  all  other  cities  and  coun¬ 
tries  may  be  heard  by  all  the  nations  and  all  the  kingdoms 
of  the  worlds  as  addressed  individually  to  each,  Art  thou  he 
that  shall  escape  ?  The  vision  seen  by  Daniel,  in  which 
the  sanctuary  was  trodden  down,  was  for  many  days.* 
And  when  the  angel  revealed  to  him  what  should  befall  his 
people  in  the  latter  days,  the  time  appointed  was  long.\  But 
the  long  time  has  to  be  succeeded  by  a  short  work.  Esaias 
crieth  concerning  Israel,  saith  the  apostle,  “  Though  the 
number  of  the  children  of  Israel  be  as  the  sand  of  the  sea, 
a  remnant  shall  be  saved  :  for  He  will  finish  the  work,  and 
cut  it  short  in  righteousness,  for  a  short  work  will  the  Lord 
make  upon  the  earth.\  The  Lord,  saith  the  prophet,  shall 
go  forth  as  a  mighty  man  ;  He  shall  stir  up  jealousy  like 
a  man  of  war  ;  He  shall  cry,  yea,  roar  ;  He  shall  prevail 
against  his  enemies.  I  have  long  holden  my  peace  ;  I 
have  been  still,  and  refrained  myself:  now  will  I  cry  like 
a  travailing  woman  ;  I  will  destroy  and  devour  at  Qnce,  &c. 
And  I  will  bring  the  blind  by  a  way  that  they  know  not ;  I 
will  make  darkness  light  before  them,  and  crooked  things 
straight.  These  things  will  I  do  unto  them,  and  not  for¬ 
sake  them.”§ 

It  is  for  the  glory  of  the  Lord  that,  during  many  ages 
while  Israel  has  been  in  blindness,  the  Gospel  has  been 
preached  unto  the  Gentiles,  that  a  people  might  be  taken 
from  among  them  to  the  Lord.  But  when  the  question  shall 
be  raised,  as  we  think  it  has  already  begun  to  be,  between 
the  Church -and  the  world,  whether  spiritual  independence 
can  be  maintained  within  the  Church  in  connexion  with  any 
kingdom  on  earth — whether  Christ  be,  in  fact,  the  Head  of 
his  church  and  the  King  of  nations — it  is  not,  without  irrev¬ 
erence  we  may  say,  it  is  not  for  the  glory  of  the  Redeemer’s 
crown  that  such  a  question,  when  fairly  raised,  should  for  a 
long  time  be  held  practically  in  doubtful  disputation.  If  the 
time  he  come  that  judgment  must  begin  at  the  house  of  God, 
what  shall  the  end  be  of  those  that  obey  not  the  Gospel  ?  If 
the  Lord’s  fan  be  taken  into  his  hand.  He  will  not  lay  it  down 
till  he  thoroughly  purge  his  floor,  and  separate  the  wheat 
from  the  chaff,  the  one  for  the  kingdom  that  shall  endure  for. 

*  Dan.,  viii.  25.  t  Ibid  ,  x.,  2.  X  Rom.,  i.x.,  28.  $  Isa..,  xlii..  15.  13 


384 


CONCLUSION. 


ever,  the  other  for  the  fire  that  never  shall  be  quenched. 
Persecuting  powers,  imperial  and  papal,  were  successively 
to  arise  against  the  Church,  and  power  was  given  to  the  beast 
for  a  time,  and  time  and  a  half.  But  these  times  have  an 
end  ;  and  the  judgment  6f  the  mighty  city,  which  destroyed 
Jerusalem  and  has  persecuted  the  saints,  shall  come  in  one 
hour.  And  when  the  Lord’s  controversy  with  the  nations 
because  of  his  people  Israel  shall  begin,  it  too  shall  be  quick¬ 
ly  finished.  The  denouement  of  the  history  of  the  world  in¬ 
cludes,  and  shall  resolve,  every  controversy  with  the  nations 
of  the  earth  concerning  the  seed  of  Abraham,  whether  by 
the  flesh  or  in  the  faith.  All  things  shall  be  shaken,  that 
the  things  which  cannot  be  shaken  may  remain.  The  counsel 
and  covenant  of  the  Lord,  which  cannot  be  shaken,  shall  re¬ 
main.  The  kingdoms  of  this  world  shall  become  as  the  chaff 
of  the  summer  thrashing-floor,  even  as  the  chaff  before  the 
wind,  and  the  thistle-down  before  the  whirlwind,  but  the  cov¬ 
enant  which  the  Lord  made  with  Abraham,  and  with  Isaac, 
and  with  Jacob  shall  be  established  forever  ;  and  all  the  fam¬ 
ilies  of  the  earth,  blessed  in  their  seed,  shall  see,  in  open 
vision  at  last,  how  the  covenant  of  the  Lord  with  David  con¬ 
cerning  his  throne  harmonizes  at  once  with  the  Abrahamic  of 
old,  and  with  the  new  and  everlasting  covenant  of  mercy  and 
of  peace  which,  after  all  the  days  of  dispersion  and  desolation 
are  past,  the  Lord  will  make  with  the  house  of  Israel  and 
with  the  house  of  Judah.  “  In  that  day  there  shall  be  a  root 
of  Jesse,  which  shall  stand  for  an  ensign  of  the  people  ;  to  it 
shall  the  Gentiles  seek,  and  his  rest  shall  be  glorious.  And 
the  Lord  shall  set  up  an  ensign  for  the  nations,  and  shall  as¬ 
semble  the  outcasts  of  Israel,  and  gather  together  the  disper¬ 
sed  of  Judah  from  the  four  corners  of  the  earth.”  “  And  in 
that  day  shalt  thou  say,  0  Lord,  I  will  praise  thee :  though 
thou  wast  angry  with  me,  thine  anger  is  turned  away,  and 
thou  comfortedst  me.  Behold,  God  is  my  salvation  ;  I  will 
trust  and  not  be  afraid  ;  for  the  Lord  Jehovah  is  my  strength 
and  my  song  ;  he  also  is  become  my  salvation.  Therefore 
with  joy  shall  ye  draw  water  out  of  the  wells  of  salvation. 
And  in  that  day  shall  ye  say.  Praise  the  Lord,  call  upon  his 
name,  declare  his  doings  among  the  people,  make  mention 
that  his  name  is  exalted.  Sing  unto  the  Lord,  for  he  hath 
done  excellent  things  ;  this  is  known  in  all  the  earth.  Cry 
out  and  shout,  thou  inhabitant  of  Zion,  for  great  is  the  Holy 
One  of  Israel  in  the  midst  of  thee.”* 


*  Isa.,  xi.,  10,  19,  (Src.  Isa.,  yii. 


I 


APPENDIX. 


No.  I. — Page  82. 

Instead  of  keeping  up  to  one  uniform  translation  of  Nah  al  Mitz- 
razm,  the  LXX.  sometimes  render  it  ^apay^  Alyvirrov,  the  Gulf  of 
Egypt:  Josh.,  xv.,  4.  Sometimes  YloTayop  Alyvirrov,  the  River  of 
Egypt:  1  Kings,  viii.,  65;  Gen.,  xv.,  18.  Sometimes  Xeipappog 
AiyvTTTov,  the  Torrent  of  Egypt:  2  Chron.,  vii.,  8  ;  2  Kings,  xxiv., 
7  ;  Numb.,  xxxiv.,  5;  Josh.,  xv.,  47;  and,  in  the  text  before  us, 
VivoKopovpog ;  hereby  perplexing  the  very  nature  and  quality,  as 
well  as  the  geographical  circumstances  of  this  river,  by  attribu¬ 
ting  to  it  four  different  appellations.  The  like  disagreement  we 
may  observe  in  their  translation  of  Tin’lJ''  Sihor  or 

Shihor,  another  name,  as  it  will  appear  to  be,  of  the  River  of  Egypt. 
For  1  Chron.,  xiii.,  5,  where  the  original  has  from  Sihor  of  Egypt, 
the  LXX.  render  it  airb  bptuv  AiyvTCTov,  from  the  Borders  of  Egypt. 
In  Jer.,  ii.,  18,  for  /./je  waters  of  Sihor,  they  have  the  waters  of  Vyivv, 
a  river  which  encompassed  the  whole  land  of  Chus,  a  province  of  Arabia, 
Gen.,  li.,  13.  In  Josh.,  xiii.,  3,  instead  of  Sihor,  lohich  is  before 
Egypt,  they  have  airb  ryg  aoiKyrov  yyq  Kara  irpSacdTrov  ’ AtyvixTov ,  from 
the  uninhabited  land  that  lies  before  Egypt.  And  in  Isa.,  xxiii.,  3,  for 
the  seed  of  Sihor,  they  have  GTripya  /ae  raSoAwv,  the  seed  of  the  mer¬ 
chants ;  mistaking  a  r5,'Samech,  for  a  tj;,  Shin,  or  Tprj  for 
geographical  criticism,  therefore,  little  stress  can  be  laid  upon  the 
authority  of  the  LXX.  version,  where  the  phrase  so  frequently  varies 
from  the  original,  and  where  so  many  different  interpretations  are 
put  upon  one  and  the  same  thing. — Shaw'’s  Travels,  p.  24. 

No.  II. — Page  155,  156. 

L&l'KACTS  FROM  THE  ITINERARY  OF  ANTONINUS 

AUGUSTUS. 


Ab  Anii'jchia  usque  ad 
Pelusium. 


Platanos  ....  25 

Cathela . 24 

Laodiceam  .  .  .16 

Gabalam  .  .  .  .18 

Balanea  ....  27 
Antaradon  ....  24 

Areas . 32 

Tripolina  .  .  .  .18 

Byblon . 36 

Beryhim  ....  34 
Sidoncm  ....  30 

Tyrum . 24 

Ptolemaiada  ...  32 
Sycaminon  ...  24 
Caesaream  ....  20 
Betaron . 18 


Diospolim  ....  22 
Lammiam  ....  12 
Ascalonem  ...  20 

Gazarn . 16 

Raphiam  ....  22 
Rhinocorura  ...  22 
Ostracenam  ...  26 
Cassium  ....  26 
Pentas-choenin  .  .  20 

Pelusium  ....  20 


Iter  a  Pelusio  Memphim, 
122  miles. 

Daphnem  .  .  .  .16 

Jacasarat  ....  18 

Thou . 24 

Scenas  Veterano- 
rum . 26 

K  K 


Helin . 14 

Memphim  ....  24 

Item  ah  Antiochia  Eme- 
sam,  133  miles. 

Niaccaba  ....  25 
Caperturi  ....  24 
Apameam  ....  20 
Larissam  .  .  .  .16 

Epiphaniarn  ...  16 
Arethusam  ...  16 
Emesam  .  .  .  .16 

Iteni  a  Carris  Hierapo- 
Urn,  83  miles. 

Bathas . 30 

Thilaticomum  .  .  22 
Hierapolirn  ...  31 


386 


APPENDIX 


Item  a  Cyrrho  Emesam, 
151  miles. 


Minnizain  ....  20 

Beroam . 22 

Chalcida  ....  18 
Arratn  .  .  '.  .  .20 
Cappareas  ....  23 
Epiphaniatn  ...  16 
Arethnsam  ...  16 
Emesam  ....  16 


Item  a  Dollche  Serianem 
Anunea,  127  miles. 


Cyrrhon  ....  24 
Minnozam  ...  24 
Beroam  ....  20 
Chalcida  ....  15 
Andronain  ....  26 
Serianem  ....  18 


Item  a  Callecome  Laris - 
sam,  79  miles. 

Chalcida  ....  18 
Temmelison  ...  20 


Apamea  ....  25 
Larissam  .  .  .  .16 

Item  a  Bemmari  Heapo- 
lim,  227  miles. 


Geroda . 40 

Thelseas  .  .  .  .16 
Damascum  ...  24 

A  ere . 32 

Neve . 30 

Capitoliada  ...  36 
Gadaram  ....  16 
Scythopolim  ...  16 
In  Medio  ....  10 
Neapolim  ....  7 

Item  a  Seriane  Scytho¬ 
polim,  318  miles. 

Salaminiada  ...  32 
Emesam  ....  18 
Laodiciam  ....  18 

Lybon . 32 

Heliopolim  .  .  .32 

Abilam . 38 

Damascum  ...  18 


Aere ....  32 

Neve  ...  .30 

Capitoliada  ...  36 
Gadara  .  .  .  .  .16 

Scythopolim  ...  16 


Item  a  CcBsarea  Eleuthe- 
ropolim,  77  miles. 

Betaron  .  .  .  .31 
Diospolim  ....  28 
Eleutheropolim  .  .  18 

Item  a  Damasco  Eme¬ 
sam,  142  miles. 


Abilam . 38 

Heliopolim  ...  22 

Conna . 32 

Laodicia  ....  32 
Emesam  ....  18 

Item  a  Neapoli  Ascalo- 
nem,  74  miles. 

.(Eliam . 31 

Eleutheropolim  .  .  20 
Ascalonem  ...  24 


INDEX  OF  TEXTS. 


GENESIS. 

V.,  8,  p.  61. 
vi.,  12,  13,  p.  24. 

X.,  18,  p.  90. 

—  19,  30,  p.  19. 

xii. ,  1-6,  p.  20. 

—  7,  p.  60. 

xiii. ,  14,  15, 17,  p.  20. 

—  14,  15-17,  p.  61. 

xiv. ,  3,  p.  129. 

—  23,  p.  62. 

XV.,  1,  p.  20. 

—  1-7,  p.  21. 

—  7-12,  17,  &c.,  p.  21. 

—  7,  p.  19. 

—  13-18,  p.  26. 

—  18-23,  p.  62. 

xvi. ,  10,  p.  133. 

—  12,  p.  133. 

xvii. ,  7,  8,  p.  22. 

—  9,  13,  p.  22. 

—  20,  p.  132. 
xviii.,  27,  p.  29. 
xxi.,  14,  p.  133. 
xxvi.,  1-4,  p.  22. 

—  3-5,  p.  63, 
xxviii.,  1,  3,  14,  p,  63. 


xxviii.,  4,  p.  22. 

—  13-15,  p.  23. 
XXXV,,  9-12,  p.  23. 

—  12,  p.  63. 
xlvi.,  1-4,  p.  23. 
xlvii.,  29,  30,  p.  23. 
xlviii.,  4,  p.  23. 
xlix.,  29-32,  p.  23. 

1,,  24,  25,  p.  23. 


EXODUS. 

11.,  25,  p.  28. 

111.,  1-15,  p.  27. 

—  6,  p.  60. 

—  8.  p.  63. 

V.,  7,  p.  26. 

—  12-17,  p.  28. 
vi.,  1-8,  p.  27. 

—  9,  p.  27. 

xii.,  31,  p.  28. 

xiv.,  22,  28,  29,  p.  28. 
xxiii.,  30-33,  p.  64. 
xxxiii.,  2,  p.  77. 
xxxiv.,  11,  p.  77. 

—  27,  p.  29. 

XXXV, ,  12,  p.  63. 


LEVITICUS. 

xxvi.,  19,  20,  p.  371. 

—  32-34,  35,  43,  p.  372. 

—  40-45,  p.  37. 


NUMBERS. 

xiii. ,  1,  2,  17-28,  p.  339. 

xiv, ,  11,  12,  p.  30. 

—  15,  16,  21-^5,  p.  30. 
xxi.,  23-26, 33-35,  p.l43. 

—  33-35,  p.  254. 
xxiii.,  17-19,  p.  56, 
xxiv.,  17,  18,  p.  71 
xxvi.,  51,  p.  146. 
xxxi.,  10,  32-34,  48-53, 

p.  144. 

xxxii.,  1-4,  p.  144. 

—  33,  p.  144. 
xxxiii.,  36,  37,  p.  128. 
xxxiv.,  1-4,  p.  127. 

—  6,  p.  86. 

—  6-11,  p.  65. 

—  7-11,  p.  87. 

—  7-9,  p.  113. 

—  8,  9,  p.  120. 


APPENDIX. 


387 


DEUTERONOMY. 

1.,  46,  p.  128. 

11.,  1-5,  8,  p.  128. 

—  8,  p.  129. 

—  2-5,  9,  19,  p.  71. 

111.,  3-10,  p.  143. 

—  10,  p.  254. 
iv.,  30,  31,  p.  37. 

vi.,  11,  p.  143. 

22,  p.  147. 

—  24,  p.  77. 

viii.,  7-9,  p.  142,  370. 

xi.,  11,  12,  p.  142,  370. 

—  22-26,  p.  64. 

—  24,  p.  113. 
xxvii.,  16-19,  p.  33. 

—  26,  p.  41. 

xxviii.,  49, 51 , 52,  p.  153. 
xxix.,  28,  p.  39. 

—  10-25,  p.  33. 

XXX.,  1-10,  p.  38. 

—  7,  p.  45. 

—  19,  20,  p.  38. 

JOSHUA. 

111.,  16,  p.  128. 

V  ,  13,  14,  p.  59. 

X.,  10,  p.  294- 
xi.,  5,  7,  p.  147. 

—  10,  p.  299. 
xiii.,  1,  p.  65,  75. 

—  2-0,  p.  65. 

—  4-6,  p.  87. 

-9-31,  p.  144. 

XV.,  20-63,  p.  148. 
xviii.,  3,  p.  7.3. 
xxi.,  45,  p.  73. 

—  41,  p.  148. 
xxiii.,  14,  p.  73. 

—  11-15,  p.  74. 
xxiv.,  13,  p.  143. 

—  19,  20,  p.  39. 

—  22,  &c.,  p.  34. 
x.xiv.,  31,  pv  73. 

JUDGES. 

1.,  31,  p.  304. 

11.,  11-14,  p.  74. 

—  20-23,  p.  75. 

1  SAMUEL. 

XV.,  20,  p.  56. 
xxxi.,  10,  p.  296. 

2  SAMUEL.  * 

V.,  17-25,  p.  79. 
viii.,  1,  2,  3,  5-8,  11,  14, 
p.  79. 

—  3.  8,  p.  114. 


1  KINGS, 
iv.,  21-24,  p.  79. 

—  25,  p.  78,  80. 
ix.,  20,  21,  p.  78. 

—  21,  26,  p.  80. 

xi.,9, 12, 14, 23, 26,  p.  78. 

2  KINGS, 

xiii ,  3,  p.  93. 

xiv. ,  25-28,  p.  94. 
xviii.,  32,  p.  142. 

1  CHRONICLES. 

V.,  9,  18-22,  p.  145. 
xvi.,  11-19,  p.  49. 
xviii.,  1,  3,  5-8,  9-13,  p. 
79. 

—  6,  p.  118. 

xxi.,  5,  p.  149. 

2  CHRONICLES. 

viii. ,  3-6,  p.  80. 

—  5,  p.  294. 

—  7,  8,  17.  p.  80. 

ix. .  26.  p.  79. 
xiii.,  3,  p.  149. 

PSALMS. 

xvi. ,  10,  p.  58. 
lx.,  7,  p.  287. 

Ixviii.,  18,  p.  58. 

Ixix.,  35,  36,  p.  306. 
Ixxxix.,  1-4,  p.  45. 

—  19,  20,  24-36,  p.  45. 

—  28,  p.  50. 

—  34,  p.  19. 
cv.,  4-12.  p.  49. 
cxxvi.,  1-5,  p.  284. 

SONG  OF  SOLOMON. 

111.,  8,  p.  124. 

ISAIAH. 

11.,  3,  p.  370. 

vi. ,  9-13,  p.  xiii. 

—  11,  p.  244. 

vii. ,  8.  p.  93. 

viii. ,  20,  p.  58. 

ix. ,  8,  p.  45. 

xi. ,  3,  p.  377. 

—  10,  12,  &c.,  p.  334. 

—  10,  14,  p.  72. 

xii. ,  10,  p.  377. 

—  P.-384. 

xvii. ,  6,  p.  338. 

xix.,  23-25,  p.  85  137. 

—  24,  p.  334. 
xxiii.,  3,  p.  85. 
xxiv.,  5,  p.  324. 

—  6,  p.  XV. 


xxiv.,  5,  6,  p.  157. 

XXV.,  9-11,  p.  72. 
xxvii.,  5,  6,  10,  p.  336. 

—  10,  p.  243. 
xxix.,  17,  p.  353. 
xxxii.,  14,  p.  243. 

—  13-15,  or  18,  p.  336. 
xxxiii.,  9,  p.  280,  361. 
XXXV.,  1,  2,  p'  361. 
xl.,  8,  9,  p.  307. 

xli.,  4,  p.  58. 

xiii.,  15,  16,  p.  383. 
xliv.,  6,  7,  p.  58. 

—  23,  26,  p.  307. 
xlv.,  17.  p.  307. 

11.,  2,  3,  p.  349. 

111.,  1,  8-10,  p.  47. 

—  9,  p.  349. 

1111.,  8,  p.  55. 
liv.,  2,  p.  308. 

Iv.,  1-3.  p.  45. 

—  12,  13,  p.  360,  370. 
Ivi.,  1,  p.  124. 

Iviii..  12,  p,  243. 

—  11-14,  p.  373. 
lx..  6,  p.  379. 

—  7,  p.  132. 

—  8,  p.  377. 

—  10,  p.  320. 

—  15,  p.  349. 

—  30,  31,  p.  43. 

Ixi.,  4,  p.  56. 

—  5-7,  p.  359. 

Ixii.,  1-4,  &c.,  p.  56. 

—  11,  12,  p.  ix. 

Ixiii.,  17,  19,  p.  46. 
Ixiv.,  1,  p.  46. 

—  4,  p.  46. 

Ixv.,  10,  361. 

Ixviii.,  18,  p.  58. 

JEREMIAH. 

11.,  14-18,  p.  85. 

—  28,  p.  306. 

111.,  12,  14.  17,  p.  124. 
iv.,  29,  p.  244. 

xi. ,  3,  p.  41. 

xii. ,  12,  p.  169. 

—  13,  p.  371. 
xxiii.,  3-8,  p.  59. 

—  28,  29,  37,  p.  60. 
xxiv.,  7,  p.  50. 

XXV.,  27-31,  p.  382. 
xxxi.,  5,  p.  346. 

—  5-9,  p.  351. 

—  21,  p.  295. 

—  20,  21,  p.  51. 

—  23,  28,  p.  44. 

—  31,  &c.,  p.  42. 

—  35-40,  p.  44- 


388 


xxxii.,  36-41,  p.  52. 
xxxiii.,  9,  p.  141. 

—  13-15,  p.  307. 

—  14,  16,  p.  59. 

—  24-26,  p.  58. 
xlvii.,  5-7,  p.  225. 

—  6,  7,  p.  201. 
xlviii.,  47,  p.  72,  229. 
xlix.,  6',  p’.  72,  229. 

—  25,  p.  210. 

—  33,  p.  299. 

1.,  19,  p.  287. 

EZEKIEL. 

vii.,  21,  p.  169. 
xii.,  19,  p.  280. 
xvi.,  53,  55,  p.  294. 

XX.,  6,  p.  142,  370. 

XXV.,  5,  p.  236. 

—  16,  p.  319. 
xxix.,  14,  15,  p.  202. 
XXXV.,  9-14,  p.  229. 
xxxvi.,  3,  p.  340. 

—  11,  p.  209. 

—  4, 7-11, 12-15,29,  30, 

34-36,  p.  342. 

—  26,  p.  50. 

—  34,  p.  374. 
xxxvii.,  19-26,  p.  57. 
xlvii.,  13,  14,  p.  60,  81. 

—  13-23,  p.  66. 

—  15,  p.  87. 

—  15,  16,  p.  120. 

~  15-17,  p.  87,  113. 

—  19,  p.  128. 

—  20,  p.  86. 

xlviii.,  1,  p.  66,  87,  94, 
113,  120. 

—  23-29,  p.  130. 

DANIEL. 

iv.,  34,  p.  380. 
ix.,  26,  27,  p.  54. 

X.,  14,  p.  377. 

xi. ,  5,  p.  320. 

—  39,  p.  164. 

xii. ,  4,  p.  270,  377. 


APPENDIX. 


HOSEA. 

1.,  11,  p.  363. 

111.,  4,  5,  p.  51. 

xi. ,  8,  9,  p.  50. 

—  21,  22,  p.  371. 

xii. ,  5,  p.  58. 

JOEL. 

1.,  4,  p.  191. 

111.,  18,  20,  21,  p.  370. 

AMOS. 

V.,  3,  p.  XV.,  306. 
ix.,  11,  12,  15-,  p.  72. 

—  13,  p.  279. 

—  13-15,  p.  370. 

OBADIAH. 

18,  19,  p.  72. 

19,  p.  346. 

MIC  AH. 

111.,  6,  p.  53. 
iv.,  4,  p.  371. 

—  7,  8,  p.  126. 

—  8,  p.  119. 

vii. ,  14,  15,  p.  145. 

—  14,  15,  19,  20,  p.  288. 

ZEPHANIAH. 

11.,  7,  p.  227,  319. 

—  9,  p.  72. 

I 

ZECHAUIAH. 

1.,  17,  p.  336. 

—  17-21,  p.  381. 

11.,  11,  p.  334. 

111.,  10,  p.  361. 
iv.,  7,  p.  47. 

viii. ,  26,  p.  383. 

X.,  1,  p.  383. 

—  10,  p.  288,  353. 
xiv.,  16,  17,  p.  377. 

—  20,  p.  334. 

MATTHEW. 

xviii.,  2,  3,  p.  160. 
xxiii.,  7,  p.  161. 


xxiii.,  37-39,  p.  54. 
xxvi.,  53,  54,  p.  55. 

MARK. 

viii. ,  45,  p.  300. 

X.,  42-44,  p.  160. 

LUKE. 

i.,  39,  65,  p.  340. 
xxi.,  24,  p.  54. 

JOHN, 
i.,  1,  p.  59. 
iv.,  24,  p.  164. 

ACTS. 

1.,  3,  6,  p,  54. 
vii.,  2,  p.  19. 

XX.,  17,  28,  p.  161. 

ROMANS. 

ix. ,  28,  p.  383. 

xi. ,  28,  29,  p.  47. 

GALATIANS. 

111.,  8,  p.  48. 

—  10,  p.  41. 

—  15,  p.  55. 

—  17,  p.  42. 

—  17,  18,  p.  35. 

HEBREWS. 

iii.,  14,  p.  30, 

X.,  1,  p.  78. 

vi. ,  18,  p.  48. 

vii. ,  19,  p.  32. 

viii. ,  7-13,  p.  42. 

2  PETER. 

111.,  9,  p.  73, 

REVELATION. 

1.,  11,  p.  58. 

111.,  12,  p.  328. 

—  20,  p.  46. 

ix. ,  4,  p.  165,  167. 

xii. ,  6,  p.  157. 
xiv.,  20,  p.  363. 
xviii.,  23,  p.  337. 


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